The Power He Kows Not
by Roxas Duskwalker
Summary: A Lost Magic, a slightly different beginning and a better upbringing. What would these ripples change in the Harry Potter story? Well, time to find out. Harry/Sirius/OC family. Pairings: Harry X Ginny, ...
1. Beginnings

AN: A new idea from me and thus a new story. Not much to say for now, besides enjoy the chapter and stay tuned. If everything goes well I will update again within the week.

Disclaimer: I own nothing as sad as it is.

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><p>It is said that the fluttering of a butterflies' wings can cause tsunamis. This is the so-called 'Butterfly Effect' and essentially it means that the smallest action can have the biggest of consequences. For example, the unexpected arrival of one person at the wrong place at the wrong time, can not only change two lives, but in the end the lives of many thousand people, a prophecy and in the end destiny itself. Why I tell you this, you may ask. Well, because sometimes a simple stroke of luck can change everything.<p>

But I best explain this little theory on an example. Let´s see …

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><p>How? That was probably the most asked question on 31st October in 1981.<p>

The first to ask this question was James Potter.

For the Potters Halloween had been rather calm, since they were in hiding and didn´t expect any visitors. Both had used most of the day to play with their one year old son. Harry James Potter. For them he was a miracle and like all parents they were incredibly proud of their little bundle of joy. For example, little Harry had ridden his child-broom, a gift from his godfather Sirius Black, for a couple of minutes today and immediately James had seen the best Seeker and professional Quiditch player for the next century. However, when Harry had picked up one of his picture books earlier one, Lily had seen a top student and Head Boy. I don´t have to mention that they had very different hopes for their child, have I?

Now little Harry was upstairs in his crib, the proud parents had brought him up there and set him to sleep an hour ago. They had spent the last hour cuddled together on the couch; they hadn't said much, they had just enjoyed each other's company and the brief time of peace in the ever waging war. Right now Lily was upstairs to get ready for bed herself and James remained on the couch for some more minutes listening to the Wizard Wireless Radio. He was listening to the news, which mostly consisted of more reports of missing persons or even some deaths. Today however, seemed to be a good day, as not one mention was made. In times like these, no news where good news. Pondering this line of thoughts James really hoped that someone (Dumbledore) would finally set an end to this senseless war and put Voldemort in his place. But he wasn´t delusional, he knew it would take a miracle to end this war.

Oh, how right he was.

Just when James decided to retire for the night, he felt a very uncomfortable feeling. This feeling could only mean one thing: Someone had breached their wards!

Immediately he sprang into action, he and Lily had prepared for something like this since Dumbledore had told them that Voldemort was after their son. There was no hesitation, no fear in him, he knew he wouldn´t survive the night, but if he could just buy his family a minute or more, it would be enough.

He warded the front door with the most powerful and nasty wards he knew, some of them were considered Dark Magic, but to protect his family he would do what was necessary. When he had finished this task, he made it halfway up the stairs and waited. Hidden in the shadows in the narrow staircase, he really wished he had his Invisibility Cloak right now, which would make for a good surprise attack. However, he had given it to Dumbledore days prior, so he had to work with what he had. His skills.

It didn´t take long before, with a thunderous crack that shook the whole house, the front door was blown open. James didn´t even flinch. He knew he had only one chance for this, so he used every skill he had acquired in his time as a Marauder; he hid in the shadows, concealed his magic and even held his breath. No movement, no sound, shortly nothing gave away his position. He waited till the last possible second, when the Dark Lord was just a step in front of him, till he wordlessly released the strongest Explosion Spell he knew. And nearly, nearly he succeeded.

The spell was too close for Voldemort to completely block it; however he managed to set up a shield in the last possible second, which took the brunt of the explosion. Still he was thrown back into a wall and the breath was knocked out of him. Add to that the fact that most of his skin and his robes were burned and you can imagine why he was furious right now. How dare this filthy man hurt the great Lord Voldemort!? With glee he spoke the deadly words and sent forth the green spell that would end James Potter´s life. _Avada Kedarva._

The moment Voldemort threw up a shield, James knew he had lost. Not that it came surprising. When the Killing Curse came, he knew he couldn´t dodge in this enclosed area. No shield he could conjure would stop the spell and so he took it like the proud Gryffindor he was. Head on.

They say in your last moments you see your whole life run before your eyes, for James there was nothing like this. All he saw where his friends and family. Moony, a friend he hoped he could one day cure, a problem that would stay unsolved for now. Padfoot, his friend and brother in heart, who would take care of Lily and Harry now, he hoped. Wormtail, who he had taken under his wing in his first days at Hogwarts, now he needed to fly on his own. His parents, who he would meet again every second now. And finally his wife and son.

James Potter was a proud man, a Marauder, Head Boy, one of the best in class and so on. But in his last moment he begged. But not for himself. He simply begged that his wife would achieve whatever she tried up there and his son would be safe. He was aware that they hadn´t taken the emergency Portkey, for whatever reason. And he knew his wife, so she probably had some kind of backup plan. Hopefully it worked.

One question remained however: How had Voldemort found them? Before he could ponder this anymore the question was lost and the Killing Curse upon him and only one thing remained to do.

He just begged and prayed to every deity who was willing to listen, that his son would be safe and happy.

_And so shall it be._

To have a voice in his head would normally have startled James, but not right now. All that mattered were his son and wife. And a second later he didn´t care anymore. For James Ignotus Potter died while protecting his wife and son against Lord Voldemort. Given the chance he would do it all over again.

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><p>The second person to ask <em>how<em> was Lily Potter.

As in: How did it come to this?

Sadly she never got an answer to this.

When the wards were broken, Lily went to Harry´s room immediately. James had made sure to pound the plan into her head. If something goes wrong, take Harry and use the emergency Portkey, which was placed over Harry´s crib and would bring us directly to Dumbledore´s office, and get out of there.

Unfortunately the Portkey didn´t work.

Lily Potter wasn´t one to curse often, but in this case … Damn. Anti-Portkey Ward probably set up by the intruder. However, Lily was also called the most intelligent witch of her age. Time to proof it.

While James had trained himself in every way possible, should there ever be an attack on them, which was highly likely, since Voldemort targeted Harry, because of a stupid prophecy … Back on track, while James had trained like mad, she had put all her efforts into research. She had delved deeper into the depths of magic than Dumbledore himself. And finally she had found something.

In a book that belonged to the Potters, so old that it nearly broke into dust when she touched it and in a language that took her three weeks to translate, she found the unthinkable. Lost Magic. A magic so old, its existence forgotten by everyone, well except of her now.

The Lost Magic: _Key of Destiny_.

There was a little description to the ritual, but it was truly astounding what she had found there and if this worked out she could defeat Voldemort and this damn Prophecy in one stroke. But the ritual took a life in exchange.

Suddenly she felt a rumble in the house, probably from some kind of explosion. Well, better work fast now. She had everything ready as it was. Days ago she had finished the _Keychain_ that was required for the ritual and now she placed it on a string and with that on Harry. When she did so, she noticed that Harry had woken up, probably from the explosion. She looked her son into the eyes and steeled her resolve. _For Harry._

The incantation to go with the ritual was fairly easy and was quickly spoken, while a second explosion shook the house. Shortly after she finished her incantation she saw a green light under the door. Now she was all alone. But she would see him again very soon. For all that was left for the ritual, was for her to give up her life by her own free will. _For Harry._

When the door opened and Voldemort stepped into the room, she barely took notice of him. And all she did in response to his presence was placing her body firmly in front of her son´s crib. She had nothing to say to a dead man.

Other than that she was enclosed in her thoughts. Hopefully Snape manages to get away with what he has done, because after all he has once been her friend and for now she had forgiven him; she didn´t want to die with a grudge against him. Next on her list was Peter, but in this case she really hoped the rat got punished in some form, after all he had betrayed them and endangered Harry. Hopefully Sirius would keep his temper in check, no need for him to go after Peter; he now had to look after Harry! Speaking of Harry, she of course saw the wand movement the snake made and heard what he said (_Avada Kedarva_), but she didn´t really care. She turned around one last time and looked at her baby son, who she would never see grow up, but that was the only way and to protect her son she would die one-hundred times over._ For Harry_ …

The last line of the incantation came to her mind and as her last thought she recited it in her head once more: _From sacrifice light will be born and door will open, fear not for the Key will arrive._

And so Lily Evelin Potter followed her husband in the next great adventure, thus setting loose a little ripple. A ripple that would change destiny, hopefully.

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><p>The third person to ask was the great and dark Lord Voldemort in person.<p>

Everything had gone fine so far. The world was in terror, the Ministry in shambles and even Dumbledore and his little group couldn´t do much against him. But just when everything seems right, he hears about this Prophecy from one of his best men, not that this was a true Prophecy anyway. But he was a cautious man, so better safe than sorry.

After Voldemort had made sure that the Prophecy was about one Harry James Potter, it was just a question of hunting them down. It just happened that one of Voldemort´s followers, a traitor by all means, became their Secret Keeper … this was just too easy. Well there came the time for a visit.

Of course Voldemort had to admit, that James Potter had put up quite a good fight, by all means he even came close to injuring him, well closer than most. But in the end he met the same end as everyone else, who dared to oppose Voldemort, met.

His wife, this mudblood, of course he had been asked to spare her, but when she stubbornly refused to step aside, or maybe she had been frozen in fear but who cares, there hadn´t been another way than to kill her too.

He came for one and now he would kill three, not that it matters much to Lord Voldemort.

He savored the feeling of power when Lily Potter´s body hit the ground. That was true power, this was the reason he was born, to kill this was his reason to exist. And now he would take care of this little nuisance.

But looking down at the baby, he nearly had to laugh. After all hundreds of people had stood against him and in the end they had died and he had lived. He had walked the road to immortality further than anyone else. He was so close to become a god in human disguise. And this _Boy_ should have the power to defeat him? Ridiculous!

And now he would prove it! He would prove the world that his reign would be forever and there was nothing they could ever do about it. They would bow down to him soon enough. And all it would take was a simple movement of his wand and the well mesmerized words of the Killing Curse to end this nonsense once and for all.

But just when everything goes well, when he made the last step to everlasting power, just when the spell was complete and the green curse on its way, his world came crumbling down.

For in front of the tiny baby appeared a solid ball of … _light?!_ How is this possible? It wasn´t supposed to be like this!

The light exploded outwards and in its place now stood another _Boy_. Blond spiky hair, sky-blue eyes and strange clothing. A completely normal boy, but Voldemort knew, deep down, that something had gone wrong.

And he was proven correct when the boy lifted one arm and the light reappeared. When it faded once again, the boy was holding a …_Key?_ Either a very overlarge Key or a very strange sword. But what mattered was that somehow that _Key_ reflected the Killing Curse. Voldemort knew that he couldn´t avoid or block, he was after all completely unprepared for this. For a moment he mused that this green light made a nice last sight for his victims, but then again he had nothing to fear. All he had to do was wait, till one of his loyal followers came to help him pick up the pieces. He was Lord Voldemort and he was immortal. And most importantly he was a patient man, he could and would wait.

But still one question remained: How was this possible?

With this in mind Voldemort was hit by his own Killing Curse and his soul ripped from his body, to wait for the right time to return …

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><p>Sirius Black was the last person to ask the question <em>how <em>on this tragic 31st October. His question was a simple: How could this happen?

*Sirius' POV*

I had come over to visit my (not-blood-related) brother and my sister-in-law and most importantly my godson … and what I find are the half caved in remains of their home. I was frantic and just took out my wand to banish or blast away every bit of rubble in his way. Just when I reached the stairs I found one of the most terrifying sights in his life. The corpse of my brother, James Potter.

I was close to a complete breakdown and if not for one tiny thing I would have probably sat there and cried myself to exhaustion. This tiny little thing was a voice. It was weak and small, but unmistakably the voice of a young man. "Help …" And it was coming out of Harry´s room.

It took all my will to get up there, but somehow I managed. What I found was a terrible sight, even worse then before, Lily´s body lying protectively in front of Harry´s crib. However there was also a spark of hope, so to say. For in the crib sat a young boy of maybe three or four years. He had blond, spiky and gravity-defying hair, sky-blue and tired eyes and his clothes looked rather strange. But the important part was that he was cradling a little bundle in his arms, which I undoubtedly knew was little Harry. From the movement of the bundle I knew one thing: Harry was still alive.

But just when I realized this, another thought came to me: How were they found? The answer to this seemed pretty easy: Wormtail! He was the Secret Keeper! He was our friend and he had betrayed us to Voldemort! I´m going to kill him! But just when I was about to stalk of I heard the young boy speak again and this time he sounded even weaker.

"Help, please …"

I was ringing with myself, on one hand I couldn´t let Pettigrew go unpunished, but this boy and Harry …

Ok, first the boys and revenge later. Maybe I can even get Remus to help me with the traitor…

For now we needed help here and there was only two persons I could trust right now. Summoning a Patronus I send it straight to Dumbledore and asked him to clear the way to his office. Shortly after I conjured a second one and asked Remus to come to Dumbledore´s office. But before I could try to move the boys I needed to make certain they were okay.

"Hey there, the name is Sirius. Who are you?"

The boy looked up at me with extremely tired eyes and he had to blink three times and shake his head to clear it enough to answer me. When he finally seemed half awake again he focused on me and answered. "Hi, I´m … Roxas … *yawn* Sorry. Could you help us please?"

"Of course I can. But first are you okay?"

"Tired, extremely tired and the little one here is as well. You won´t believe the evening we had."

Looking around at all the rubble, but firmly keeping my eyes away from Lily, I answered "I think I _can _believe it. Now I want to bring you to a safer place. Are you up for traveling?"

"Yeah, but if you tell me where to I can make it faster."

"You can? Okay, how do you do it?"

"Well can you concentrate really, really hard on where you want to bring us?"

Laughing at this innocent little boy I nodded my head, but made sure to keep eye contact steady. After all this could still be a disguise of a Death Eater, but for now I could do nothing else, but to trust this little guy. He just looked thoughtful after I had nodded, but after some seconds he scrunched his eyes shut in concentration. After half a minute I wanted to say something, but was interrupted by …_ darkness?_ Whatever just happened, one moment we were in Godrics Hollow, the next everything went black and finally we stand in the middle of Dumbledore´s office in Hogwarts. Something was definitely strange here.

Just when I found my voice back, I saw the young boy sway a little, but still he kept a firm hold on Harry, making sure he didn´t fall. For a moment I was unsure of what to do, but when he swayed again, I quickly led him over to a chair, which I transfigured into a couch midway. I sat him down and immediately he curled up on the couch and not even three seconds later he was asleep. He really had been exhausted. Still all the while he had held Harry close and even now he was protectively between me and Harry, while also making sure that the one-year old was as comfortable as possible.

I don´t know exactly what was going on here, but one thing was for sure, I was going to get some answers one way or another. For Harry´s sake, because that would be what James and Lily would want me to do. Revenge could wait for later.

Without another thought I sat down on the couch as well, purposefully staying close to my two charges. For now I would protect them, that is the least I can do…

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><p>AN: I know, probably rather confusing for now, but you will have to wait for the next chapter to get most of the questions answered. I´m sure Dumbledore will know or at least figure out most of the answers.<p>

For those who read my other stories and especially 'A Fox and a Sword', you probably already know where I will go with this story or at least have a vague idea. The rest of you will just have to wait like everyone else. Till next time dear readers.


	2. Live on

AN: I´m back and I bring the second chapter with me, isn´t that great? No really, enjoy the chapter and Review my dear readers.

Now I would like all those who have favorited, followed or reviewed. You´re what makes any writer happy and keeps me working. So thanks guys. And now, on to the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, niente, nichts ...

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><p>Sirius Black was exhausted. Not simply tired, more like emotionally exhausted. After all, he had just found the remains of his brother´s house, with James and Lily dead. Then he finds out, that somehow Harry had survived the whole thing and was now … <em>protected<em> by a strange boy. Yes, emotionally exhausted sounded just right.

But not only that, despite the conflicting emotions, there was also the problem of the headache he was getting. This headache came from too much thinking, he was sure of it. After all there was not much to do, besides thinking, while Sirius sat on a transfigured couch in Dumbledore´s office and waited for the Headmaster and Remus to appear. So he sat there, besides the two boys he had promised himself to protect, and thought about how Harry could have survived the whole ordeal and most importantly how this boy was involved in it.

When he first had seen the boy holding Harry, he had been relived, but on the same time extremely tense and suspecting. That´s probably what you get, for fighting in a war, where you don´t know who´s friend or foe. But now, that he had time to think about the things he had seen earlier, Sirius was sure, that this boy had good intentions. After all, the boy had constantly made sure that Harry was safe and sound, while he was extremely exhausted and he also looked a bit … lost. And seeing such a young boy protecting his godson, despite his own well-being, had stirred something in Sirius that he hadn´t known before. Protective instinct. So he had sworn himself to watch after both boys till this whole mess was somehow resolved.

But with that matter resolved and his emotions calmed a bit, Sirius had nothing left to do, but to ponder what exactly and how all this had happened. Of course there was also the hand on the shoulder for Roxas and the rocking of Harry, whenever one of them seemed to have problems to sleep. Sirius didn´t really think about what he was doing and when he noticed that he was – effectively - helping the boys to stay asleep he nearly laughed out loud. 'Prongs is probably laughing about me right now and Lily coos about how sweet of a picture those two are.'

It was at that thought that Sirius started to cry, the whole gravity of the situation had just hit him. How was he supposed to go on? How was he supposed to do this? He just didn´t know anymore …

And just when he was about to reach a breaking point, he felt a small hand on his arm. Looking over he saw through misty eyes that Roxas had woken up. Sirius used his other arm and hand to wipe his, but still the tears didn´t stop. Roxas noticing that passed Harry on to Sirius and after that hugged Sirius as strong as he could. Sirius sat there shell-shocked, tears still streaming down his face, a small bundle of blankets with Harry within in his arms and another young boy dangling from his side.

That´s how he would go on. After all he had promised – no sworn, to protect these boys and right now said boys were comforting him as best as they could. He knew it would be hard. He knew that life wouldn´t be perfect. But he also knew that he would lay down his life for those two. And just like that a strange boy by the name of Roxas and his godson Harry had wormed their way into his heart.

If later asked, Sirius would never know how long they sat there comforting each other. He didn´t know if it was little Harry closing his hand around his finger or Roxas falling asleep while hugging him that had stopped the tears. But he knew that no matter what, he would protect those two.

It was to that picture, that Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin appeared through the Floo. A smiling Sirius, with tear strains on his face, holding some blankets, that held young Harry Potter and a young boy with blond spiky hair, who was hugging Sirius from the side, with his head on Sirius' leg and soundly asleep. It was, as Remus later admitted, one of the strangest, but at the same time most comforting sight.

Albus surveyed the sight and quickly noticed some things others may have overlooked. For example, the clothes the young boy wore were most interesting, to him at least. A full-length black coat with a hood and a waist-high slit going up the back (similar to a duster). It had a large silver zipper that fastens at the top and zips down to seal the coat. Together with black boots and fingerless gloves and two-colored pants; the legs of his pants were beige with several of what looked like buttons on the hem that appeared to attach the legs to the rest of the cloth, which were dark-colored.

When none of the occupants of the room reacted to their entrance Albus decided to clear his throat – loudly. Sirius looked up and Roxas opened his eyes, while Harry thankfully stayed asleep. While Roxas sat up straighter, Sirius handed him Harry and stood up to greet his old friend. While the two friends greeted each other, Albus was more interested in this strange boy and thus decided to try a bit Legilimency on him. The moment he attempted to do so, he felt a head-splitting pain in his head, but it quickly subsided again when he stopped his attempt on the young boy. 'That ought to be interesting' was one of the more prominent thought´s going through Albus' mind while he nursed an upcoming headache.

Once Remus and Sirius had greeted each other, by a one-armed hug, Remus stepped back and looked Sirius over. Then he said "Sirius what happened? You seem fine, but say, I heard about Lily and James, surely it can´t be true?"

Sirius heaved a heavy sigh and walked back to the transfigured couch and sat down beside Roxas. Then he looked up and both Albus and Remus could see the unshed tears in his eyes. He spoke in a voice full of regret and sadness. "Remus my old friend, it is true. And I feel like I´m responsible." He sighed again and closed his eyes for a moment, when he reopened them he had a far off look. "I suggested James to choose Peter as his Secret Keeper, while I would play the decoy. Today … or more likely yesterday by now, I visited Peter´s hideout. There were no signs of him and no signs of a fight, but I still got suspicious. When I couldn´t find him, I decided to visit James and Lily to make sure they were okay … what I found were ruins. Remus they´re … they´re dead…" At this point Sirius choked up and tears started to spill from his eyes again. Seconds later Roxas was half hugging him, with one arm, while holding Harry with the other.

"It is not your fault Mr. Sirius. James and Lily trusted you … all of you and it is neither your, nor their fault. It was Voldemort and Pettigrew who did this. Please, don´t beat yourself up for this."

Sirius himself closed his arms around both boys and after some minutes the tears stopped flowing. It took another few minutes till Sirius released both boys and looked back at the two men. "Please, Dumbledore we need to send someone after Peter, we need to bring that rat to justice. I would do it myself, but you see…" He looked back at the boys and Dumbledore got the message.

Without another word the old Professor conjured a Patronus, in Phoenix form, and send it out with word to the other Order members to go after Pettigrew. With a final nod, Dumbledore sat down on the chair behind his desk.

Remus was far too agitated to sit down himself and instead decided to pace the office. While doing so he decided to ask the question, which had been on his mind since he got the Patronus from Sirius. "What happened there?"

For some moments it was silent in the office, if you overlooked Remus' pacing and Harry´s little snores of course, till a small voice answered him. "I think I can explain that." It was Roxas.

Immediately Remus stopped pacing and looked at the boy. He managed an embarrassed grin before he said "I´m sorry young man, I wasn´t aware that you … Well never mind. But where are my manners, I am Remus, Remus Jonathan Lupin."

Dumbledore who had stayed silent till now, decided now was a good moment to add his two cents. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, at your service young man. And who are you if I may ask?"

Roxas looked a tad bit uncomfortable, and answered, still in a small voice, without looking up. "The name is Roxas Ansem …" Here he hesitated and got a small flush in his cheeks. "Well, I don´t really have a surname. Sorry." Then he sniveled a bit and Sirius immediately noticed the small tears coming from Roxas' eyes.

He didn´t know why he did it, but it just felt like the right thing to do, and so Sirius placed an arm around Roxas shoulders and said "Hey there, no need to be sad. If you want to we can share my last name. It´s a bit used, but I think 'Black' would go nicely with your name." He added a small smile at Roxas and immediately the boy brightened up.

"Really Mr. Sirius?"

Sirius gave a small laugh, before he nodded his head and said "Of course, but under one condition. You have to call me Sirius or Padfoot. OK?"

Roxas seemed extremely eager and nodded his head very hard. Then he beamed at Sirius and said "Thanks Sirius." He looked back at the other two men and still with a big smile on his face, he said "The name´s Roxas Ansem Black, got it memorized? Oh, and I´m four years old, I think."

Remus had watched the scene with great interest and pride, it seems Sirius was finally maturing enough and the way he was taking care of the boy … Still he would have a talk with Sirius later on, giving Roxas the name 'Black' was an equivalent to adopting him, while Remus didn´t doubt that Sirius could handle it if he really set his mind on it, he still like to make sure. But first this mess had to be sorted out. With a smile at Roxas he said "It´s nice to meet you then Roxas. Now, you said you knew what had happened. Could you tell us?" Remus had made sure that his voice was nice and gentle, because if the boy really saw what had happened there he could very well have a trauma.

Roxas was thoughtful for a moment, before he looked up and gave a nod. "I think it all started a bit over four years ago. At March the 8th 1977, Lily, well at that point in time, Evans made her first successful summoning of a guardian spirit. I think it was a Celestial Spirit, but I´m not really sure." Roxas took a look around and saw all three men listening intently and a quick look down, confirmed that Harry was still asleep. Good. He continued "At that point many things were set in motion, one of them being my … well you could call it 'creation' ..."

At this point Albus took a sharp breath and said "It can´t be! You mean to tell me…"

"Sorry Mr. Dumbledore, but please don´t interrupt I will come to it. On that day I first got a glimpse of Lily´s life and I can still remember how happy she was when she had managed the summoning. After that I got glimpses of her life from time to time whenever she was extremely happy, sometimes when she was scared or sad as well. But it were only glimpses foggy pictures from the greatest moments of her life, but still I was aware of myself and my … 'life' was good. And then last night happened. I knew something was wrong when I, for the first time, could hear James' thoughts. It had started only moments before he had died and in the end I tried to assure him, that I would do everything in my power to fulfill his last wish. Protect Harry. Seconds later it was like a switch had been turned and I suddenly found myself in Lily´s mind, also only moments before her end. She … she had used her last moments to prepare a very old and forgotten ritual. It probably is unknown to you but I will still tell you that it is called _Key of Destiny._ A summoning ritual, which essentially summons a-"

At this point Roxas stopped and stood up from the couch. He stretched out his left arm and in a flash of light a giant key appeared. With some imagination you could call it a sword with a hand guard, but the design was very strange to most people. The whole blade was in silver and black; the main part of the blade was a curved, notched blade in silver-gray with a noticeably sharp edge; the hand guard and handle were black. But the real specialty of this sword were the so-called teeth at the top of the blade, which marked it as a _Keyblade._ A chain connected the handle of the blade to the _Keychain_, the same one Lily Potter had used for the ritual, which was a silver, notched cross.

Several gasps accompanied the summoning of Roxas' Keyblade and with a sigh Roxas dispelled the weapon again. He sat back down on the couch and proceeded to tell the stunned adults his story. "Like I said, it is a Summoning Ritual and essentially it summons a Keyblade Wielder, someone like me. Lily summoned me to protect Harry, which I still intend to do by the way, I appeared when Voldemort fired the Killing Curse, blocked it back at him with the Keyblade and he vanished. End of the story. Now could you please stop gaping, it makes me shiver."

To his credit Sirius was the first to recover from this tale. He shook his head once and placed one of his arms back around Roxas' shoulders, while the other arm still held Harry. He leaned down and whispered in Roxas ear "Quite the tale Rox, but it changes nothing okay?" He gave Roxas a small smile and the young boy practically launched himself at Sirius. Sirius had of course noticed how uncomfortable Roxas had been while telling his story and while he may had sounded like a far older men while emotionless telling the story, he was still a young boy and obviously liked to be treated just normal. He had anticipated Roxas behavior and was more than ready - and happy - to return the hug with one arm. After some moments Roxas let go of him and sat back down normally, Sirius of course placed Harry in Roxas arms, because he knew Albus Dumbledore quite well and knew this situation could get … let´s say serious.

It took some time for Remus and Albus to comprehend and accept the story they had just heard, but once they were at this point, things could have gotten messy. However, Remus decided to finally sit down on a comfortable looking chair and crossed his arms in front of his body, a completely peaceful position, not that Sirius ever thought otherwise. Albus took a bit more time, probably going over every possibility and every change this new situation brought. When he finally had enough of his musings, and Sirius was getting highly nervous from the waiting, he placed his elbows on his desk, interlinked his fingers and placed his chin on them – a resigned, but peaceful, posture.

Once both men were calm again, Sirius spoke up. "Headmaster, surely you have already thought about this, but I think I will make it clear. I will take Harry and Roxas with me, they can live with me for as long as they want."

Albus heaved a deep sigh, before he said "I´m sorry Sirius, but I don´t think this would be wise and thus I cannot allow it. Harry will have to life with his last living relatives and I think the Ministry – especially the Department of Mysteries – would like to have a word with young Roxas, before this day ends. So no, you will not-"

He would have said more, but quite frankly Sirius had enough of this. "Enough of this!" Sirius boomed and Roxas actually winced at that point. Seeing this Sirius brought his voice back under control and continued in a much calmer, but none the less determined, voice. "I am Harry´s Godfather, as simple as it is and thus I will take him with him. One way or the other… And when it comes to Roxas, I already gave him my last name and now I will give him a home on top of that. I know Albus, you only want the best for everyone, but just for this once do what your heart tells you to do. Can´t you see what would happen to the boys when we would do what you suggested?"

"Sirius I already said I´m sorry and I say it again, for I can´t see how this could go bad for the boys. My decision stands."

Remus had watched this … discussion most interested, but of course he had been thinking and he actually came to the same conclusion as Sirius. He knew how the Ministry worked and about the Dursleys he had heard some things from James. Sirius is right, better him than them. "Albus, please think again. You know how the Ministry works, that can´t be good for such a young boy. And when it comes to Petunia Dursley, well James told me some things about that family and I would never allow Harry to live there if I had something to say."

"Remus, Sirius you both may be right, but you miss the greater picture, this has to be done. For the greater good."

For some moments everything was silent. Albus waited for the other two men to agree to his decision, like everyone did, after all he did it for the greater good. Remus, while thinking about what Dumbledore had said, was also shocked that the man could be so … stubborn. Sirius was silent because of his anger, how could this man dare to look at his (?) boys and see sacrificial lambs for the greater good. How dare he!? Harry, while awake, was rather comfortable in Roxas' arms and thus stayed silent for now, but of course he wondered where his Mom and Dad were.

And Roxas, well he wasn´t really silent, he just prepared himself for something he really didn´t want to do. "Mr. Dumbledore, I want to live with Sirius and I think it would be good for Harry too. And if you … don´t … back down, well maybe I have to find someone who still knows about the _Ancient_ _Magic_ …"

The statement was vague and left pen, but Albus wasn´t fooled. This young boy knew about the rules and magical properties of a Keyblade and its Wielder. Albus of course knew them too, it was a very old magic, engraved in the depths of this planet and forgotten by most. But still these rules were binding and if this young man decided to arouse them, then not even he could do something against it. Better to back down it seems …

"Very well, you made your point young Roxas. If it is your wish to live with Sirius, than who am I not to grant it. And of course you were right Sirius, he is your Godson and thus it is only right that Harry lives with you." The other occupants of the room, minus Harry, beamed at each other, before they looked back at him. "Now there is still the question of living arrangements …"

Dumbledore would have said more, but Harry decided now was a good time to make himself known. After a long conversation with Uncle Siri and Uncle Moony and many tears from Harry, the situation had been explained to the young child, more or less at least. Since then he hadn´t let go of Sirius and Roxas.

When it came to the living arrangements, Sirius decided to take Dumbledore up on his offer to arrange something in exchange for a favor. Something turned out to be a nice two-story house near Ottery St. Catchpole, on a piece of land that belonged to the Dumbledore family. Sirius knew why Dumbledore had chosen this place, but he was okay with the extra protection of other 'light' families and moved in with his two boys nearly two weeks after that fateful day, which had cost him his brother and sister, but had given him two 'sons' to look out for.

Sirius knew that things would be hard in this makeshift family, but he had sworn to help and protect the boys, no matter how hard it would be. But for now "Let´s unpack boys." Sirius said with a big smile to his two favorite boys after they had made a little tour through the house.

"Okay Sirius" came the smiling answer of both boys in choir.

Yes, life would be good. Hopefully …

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><p>AN: Next chapter will have a big time skip and actually start the story, in the summer before Harry´s first year. Well till then dear readers.<p> 


	3. A normal day

AN: First and foremost, thank´s for every favorite, follower and especially the reviews. Nothing makes an author happier than your interest, well maybe your thoughts in the reviews. Still, thank you for taking the time to show your support.

Now I would normally apologize for being late and try to reason with you and explain why I was late, but that´s not what you want, right? No, you want the story to go on. So, without further ado on with the story.

Enjoy the chapter and please leave a review dear readers.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing in this story. *sniffle*

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><p>Ten years. Nearly ten years had passed since that fateful night. Today is the 7th July 1991 and one Sirius Black could be found in his bed, in the 'Kennel'. It was a Sunday and like most Sundays, Sirius decided to have a bit of a lie in. He wasn´t asleep, but he used most Sunday mornings to reflect on what happened for the last Nine and Three Quarter Years.<p>

He still remembered the day he and his boys had moved into the house Dumbledore had provided for them. At first he had been a bit skeptical, but over time the house had become a real home for all three of them. Sure, Sirius had also the house at Grimmauld Place, but it had never been a home to him to begin with and he didn´t want the boys to grow up in such a gloomy place and now Sirius was really glad he had taken up Dumbledore on his offer.

The layout of the house was rather simple, with a kitchen, a small bathroom, a dining and a living room on the ground floor and four bedrooms and a fully equipped bathroom (shower _and _bathtub) on the first floor. Sirius had added a cellar later on, consisting of two special rooms. Simple, but still _home._

When the three had come to live there, they had been a group of misfits. Roxas, a Keybearer summoned by Lily Potter, with only one purpose: Protect Harry. But besides that he was utterly alone and clung to every form of acceptance and love. Sirius had taken the boy under his wing because he was reminded of his younger self. Feeling alone, miserable and most of all attention seeking. But despite his wishes to help the boy, he also had problems of his own, not the least were the deaths of Harry´s parents and the wish to take care of Harry, like a good godfather should. And lastly Harry, the boy was still so young, but he had just lost both of his parents at such a young age and desperately needed help to deal with the loss. That was the state they were in when they moved in, but many things had changed over the years and Sirius had to admit that he liked the changes very much.

Roxas had accepted Harry like a little brother and cared for him just like a brother should. He had accepted Sirius as an authoritative figure and a role model (but not always acted like it) and their relationship was like father and son. Sirius himself had quickly adapted to the parent role, not only for Roxas, but for Harry as well. Remus Lupin, Sirius' oldest and most trusted friend, often said that Sirius had matured more in a few days, than in all his years at Hogwarts and while he would never tell anyone this, especially Remus, secretly Sirius agreed. He now had two charges to look out for and be a role model for, yeah he had definitely needed to grow up and thankfully he had managed it. Harry had taken more time to adapt to his new living circumstances, and who could fault the boy after what had happened. But as the years passed on, he accepted both Roxas (as his brother) and Sirius (as his surrogate father) as family.

It had been more than four years ago, November 1st in the year before Roxas started at Hogwarts, when Sirius had gotten his courage together and asked his boys what they thought about the living arrangements. It had been a very emotional experience and one evening Sirius would never forget. Both Harry and Roxas had called him 'dad' for the first time on that evening and they did so till today and would hopefully never stop to do so. Sirius of course had been quick to round his sons up in a group hug. Later when everyone had settled down again from the emotional moment, Harry admitted that he still knew Lily and James were his parents, but in his heart Sirius was just as much his 'dad' as James had been. Roxas in turn admitted that, while he had never really known the love of a parent, he still saw Lily as something like a mother, because his earliest memories were of her and, intentionally or not, she had made him happy in his younger years when he had been all alone. But he had never known the love of a father and he was really glad for the kindness and love Sirius showed him. He said 'he couldn´t have asked for a better father'. Sirius had been very moved from these confessions and under tears he had told his boys that he would be gladly there for them, for as long as they would take him. However, he would never try to replace James and Lily, he had too much respect for the both of them.

That had been the day when years of living together and forming bonds, made a family out of three misfits_. _'Yes',Sirius thought 'we are a family.'

The years had been kind on their little family and while they all had some problems and pain in their past, they helped each other to come to terms with it, accept it and finally move on. Like a family should help each other.

With those thoughts in mind, Sirius finally stood up from his bed and moved over, to cast a quick look out of the window. And as always, when he was home, he could see Roxas outside doing his morning exercises. Roxas Ansem Black, that boy really was something else, Sirius thought proudly. Offering the boy his last name was one of the best decisions he had made in his life. From the first day, Roxas had always been a great addition in the house and Sirius couldn´t believe how he had survived before the boys came into his life. Roxas normally stood up early, made a morning jog and some exercises, mostly to heighten his speed, and afterwards he helped with breakfast.

However it couldn´t be said that Harry James Potter-Black (Harry had been quite insistent to add Black to his name, after the night when they had become a true family) was slack off either. Since the boy could walk properly he had joined Roxas on his morning jogs (through he didn´t join the other exercises), since he was seven he helped with breakfast and one year later, when Roxas had started at Hogwarts, he had started to make breakfast on his own.

Sirius was practically swelling with pride, when the boys had started this routine. But he still sometimes asked himself how they came up with it. After all, he had never asked either of them to help with the household, but they had always helped in whatever way they could. It just came natural. Through with three boys in the house they would never win an award for the cleanest house in the neighborhood (a fact Molly Weasley had jokingly pointed out on more than one occasion) it still was habitable.

While Sirius could have afforded it to hire someone to keep the house clean, he, like his boys, preferred to do something. Thus he managed the housework with the help of his boys, besides his 'job'. That reminded Sirius that one of his projects would be doo by tomorrow. Yes Sirius had gotten himself a job. Nothing major, he mostly worked self-employed on inventions, something that came from his Marauder days (he had always provided the ideas, James had prepared everything, Remus had stomped out the details of their plans and Peter had tagged along), and sold his ideas to whoever was interested. On more than one occasion had he sold some of his prank ideas to _Zonko´s_ and once he had even managed to sell … _something_ … to the Department of Mysteries and boy oh boy, the Ministry paid very well if they wanted something.

So with his project in mind Sirius made his way to one of the rooms in the basement, which he used as his laboratory. He casted a quick look into the cauldron that contained his newest creation and was elated to notice that it was ready for another test. But that could wait till after breakfast.

When he entered the kitchen Roxas and Harry just finished setting the table. With a joyful greeting and a thank you, he took his seat and started to eat. Conversation was light, through Harry kept bothering Roxas with questions about Hogwarts, which he would (finally, in Harry´s opinion) attend to at September 1st. Roxas didn´t let it bother him and answered some of the questions and ignored the rest, despite Harry´s nagging. Sirius suppressed a chuckle at the interaction, those two really were brothers in anything but blood and surely they acted like it. It actually reminded Sirius of himself and James when they had been younger, back when Sirius had started living with James and his parents.

Once Roxas had excused himself from the table, Harry turned his attention to Sirius and Sirius took the bombardment of questions in stride. The most asked question was, if they could make an excursion into muggle London when they got to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Harry had taken quite the liking to Muggles and their life style. So it wasn´t a surprise when Harry asked for this. Sirius agreed readily and then send Harry off to his exercises.

Sirius, with a wave of his wand, took care of the dishes and leftovers of the delicious breakfast, before he brewed himself a second cup of coffee and, with his mug in hand, he went back to his laboratory for a test of his newest invention.

While Sirius busied himself with his 'work', Harry was outside and practiced his advised exercises.

Harry could still remember when the 'scary lady', or Professor McGonagall as he was supposed to call her, had come over to their Kennel to check up on something strange with his magic. For Harry had had many bursts of accidental magic in his younger years, far more than was normal his dad had told him. It had turned out, that he had far more magical energy than average and thus he was required to learn to control it. Otherwise his magic would act every now and then until he could go to Hogwarts and perform magic on a daily basis.

That had been two and a half years ago.

Since such young children weren´t allowed to own a wand, not to mention actually using them, because of the Ministry and they had a tracker on every sold wand, it was decided that Harry had to learn Wandless Magic.

At first Harry had problems with even the simplest Levitation Spells, but after two and a half years of training he could do magic on the level of third or fourth years and all that without a wand. Yeah, Harry´s training was going well.

Harry trained himself in Wandless Magic, using the notes Professor McGonagall had provided for him, for three hours. Or to be more precise, till he felt his magic was thoughtfully depleted and wouldn´t act up for at least a day or two. When he finished he made his way into the house to grab a shower and get ready for the customary Sunday lunch with the Weasley family.

Just when he was about to enter the bathroom on the first floor, Roxas stepped out, obviously just finished with his shower after his training. After a quick greeting and a reminder from Roxas to hurry up (Molly Weasley was very vocal about being punctual and hated it when the Black family was late for their customary Sunday lunch), Harry went into the bathroom and Roxas to his own room to scribe down some notes from his training.

For while his dad was experimenting and his brother was outside training, Roxas had his own training to take care of. He had started the routine when he had been nine years old, after one Alastor Moody had visited their Kennel and gave him some advises for his training.

Moody had been an Auror for a long time, but after the capture and interrogation of Pettigrew and the resulting capture of the Lestranges and Bartemius Crouch Jr., effectively stopping them from their planned attack on the Longbottom family, he had have enough. Of course he waited till after the trial, which ended with all five Death Eaters serving life sentences in Azkaban. After these huge captures Moody had retired and started training the new Cadets at the Auror Academy. At least that´s the story Moody had told Roxas.

He told him that, because he had quickly taken a liking to the boy, after he had seen him work out in the morning, when he had visited Sirius once. After he had witnessed that training, he had started to come over every now and then and had even started to help Roxas train. A big honor according to Sirius.

Moody had explained to Roxas that one of the main weaknesses of every wizard was, that they mostly relied on spell-work, or better said mid-range and long-range attacks. Thus it was a huge advantage to be trained in close combat. Because if you managed to get up close in a duel, you would rob a wizard of most of his advantages and, when you are trained for it, give yourself a huge advantage over your enemies. That was one of the main reasons Moody had survived so long as an Auror, he had said.

Roxas had been excited at the prospect of a supervised training and had quickly included the ideas Moody had given him into his morning training. After a whole year of speed training Moody had admitted that it would be best to learn how to wield a weapon for close range battles. After some tests it turned out that Roxas was rather good with swords (a fact that was rather obvious if you knew that he wielded a Key_blade_) and after another year of strenuous training, Moody had announced that Roxas had mastered the usage of swords rather well.

On his thirteenth birthday, Moody had given Roxas a specially made sword. It was forged by one of the last magical smiths in England and it was charmed to channel magical energy, which would build an aura of energy around the sword, that could be used to block or slice through most spells. A very unique and valuable gift. The sword – _Hiketsu _– was now adorning his room, when he wasn´t using it or when he was at Hogwarts (Dumbledore had made it clear on Roxas' first day, that he didn´t want weapons like this in the castle).

While he had mastered many sword styles, Roxas still included an hour of sword training after breakfast in his routine. The rest of the morning was spent on 'relearning' ancient spells.

'Relearning may be the wrong word' Roxas thought to himself, while he worked on his notes 'but I just don´t know how to rephrase it'.

To explain the matter: From time to time Roxas had 'flashbacks' in his dreams. He saw things that, while they never happened to him, still felt extremely familiar. More than once he had seen other Keybearers perform different (and very powerful, not to mention complicated looking) spells and every time he woke up after such a dream Roxas sat down and made notes on the spell he had seen. Later he tried to perform the spells himself.

Dumbledore, after Sirius had informed him of Roxas' visions, said that it probably were congenital memories he had inherited from former Keyblade Wielders, which were slowly absorbed and processed by Roxas' subconscious. Roxas rather liked the idea to have inherited something by his predecessors.

Since there was no tracker on his Keyblade, Roxas could train them as often as he wanted with his Keyblade instead of his wand, despite that he wasn´t very good at Wandless Magic. When he tried to do the spells with his wand, when he was in school of course, it was actually harder than with his Keyblade.

So far he had learned to recreate or relearn or … oh whatever he did, he managed to perform ten of those spells. Most offensive, but also two defensive and one healing spell. It looked like most spells he learned from the former Keyblade Wielders were battle oriented. Three of them he could also perform with his wand.

To train with these spells Roxas used the second room in the basement, which was heavenly charmed against every form of magical damage. Something that had been added after he had tried the _Firaga_ spell (a fire based offensive spell) for the first time. Also in this room were his training swords and some dummies to train both sword art and magic on.

Today Roxas had made a bit of headway with one of the more complex spells he had inherited. And he needed to scribe down his improvements for later usage. The spell he had trained with was called _Flare_. Like most spells Roxas has learned thus far there was a reference to a spell with the same name in some very old texts Dumbledore was able to locate. Since most spells Roxas had learned were once known, Dumbledore had concluded that all these spells were in fact _Ancient Magic_, sometimes also called Lost Magic or Core Magic.

Roxas didn´t care what those spells were, but they made him feel like a real Keybearer and he was still determined and exited to learn them. But for today he was finished and so were his notes, so he quickly prepared himself (new set of clothes, since his training clothes weren´t really appropriate, trying and giving up to get his hair to lie down, and so on) and went downstairs to meet up with his brother and dad to go over to the Burrow.

He met up with Harry, who just got out of his room and together they got down finding Sirius already waiting by the door. It had been a normal morning so far and the rest of the day would be carefree as well. Yes today was a good, but nonetheless normal, day in the Kennel.

If the rest of the summer was only half as good as this day, then Roxas would be glad. Harry, of course, couldn´t wait for the term to start - his first year at Hogwarts. And Sirius just enjoyed the days he had with both his boys, until school began and he wouldn´t see them for quite some time.

Time really moved too fast sometimes.

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><p>Hiketsu (japanese) = Key<p>

Firaga = strong fire spell from Kingdom Hearts / Final Fantasy, shoots a single ball made out of fire


	4. Summer's end

AN: First and foremost, once again thanks to every favorite, follower and especially review. You are what keeps this story going and have my gratitude.

Now on to more important business. This will be the last chapter pre-Hogwarts and from the next chapter onwards we will really get into the action.

Also, like you will see as soon as I stop babbling, I prefer to write my stories in the First-Person perspective and normally I use the inserted OC, to be precise Roxas, for that. So there will be huge parts of the books that I won´t cover, since only the times Roxas is involved can really be mentioned. But I hope that won´t disappoint you too much, since by now we probably all know the books by heart and I won´t have to mention every little detail out of them.

Now without further ado, on with the story. Enjoy the chapter and leave a review.

Disclaimer: Just look it up in chapters one till three.

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><p>(25th July 1991)<p>

*Roxas' POV*

After another long workout and a spell training that had shown promise, only interrupted by a short breakfast, I laid down my quill and stretched. Thus far I had greatly enjoyed the summer. It was only halfway over with more than a month still left and I was already finished with most of my summer assignments, in fact only one essay in Potions was left, but that could wait for later. My other summer activities, sword art and ancient magic studies to be precise, had also come a long way and I was rather satisfied with my progress. Moody, who had come over twice thus far, had also been impressed with my progress in the sword arts.

Other than studies and training, the summer had been spent in relaxation with my family and frequent visits to the Weasleys. I always made sure to have a good mixture between having fun and studying. No reason to tire myself out over the summer, right?

I had also made a lot of headway when it came to Ancient Spells and the other parts of Ancient Magic. This work included a lot of reading, interpreting my dreams and the ancient texts I, or better said Sirius with Dumbledore´s help, managed to locate and acquire and a lot of guesswork since most knowledge about that part of magic was lost in time. But this was a nice hobby of mine and I had come a long way from the confused four-year old who had casted a _Dark Corridor_ on himself, Harry and Sirius without knowing what he was really doing till now. By now I understood this particular spell and many, many more. I also had a good grasp of the Ancient Laws that were still in place and other things that came with being a Keybearer. But there was always so much more to learn …

But for today I was done, I placed my new notes were they belonged and then stood up from my desk. Perhaps it was time to get down …

"Oi, Roxas we are waiting down here, get going!" Harry´s voice from somewhere in the house, presumable the sitting room since the Floo access was there, had just confirmed that I needed to get ready. I quickly threw on a simple white shirt and made my way out of my room and downstairs to the sitting room. There I found my brother, already annoyed and impatient like always, and my dad, with an amused smirk firmly plastered on his face, waiting for me.

For you see, yesterday the Hogwarts letters had arrived and since my dear little brother was a tad bit impatient and simply loved to go to Diagon Alley and Muggle London, dad had given in to Harry rather quickly and now we would go to both places for school supplies and what else caught our interest.

The plan was rather simple, we would Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry and I would go to Ollivander´s, while dad had to do some business with the Goblins at Gringotts. We would meet up at Flourish and Blotts, unsupervised Harry could spend hours in the dusty book shop. Through I have to admit that I had found some rather intriguing books on the more common known parts of Ancient Magic there, so we could probably spend a lot of time there.

So we did just that, after stepping out of the Floo, dad reminded us once again to wait for him at the bookstore and then the three of made our way into the Alley and split up. While I had no problem to go with my brother, I certainly wouldn´t enjoy another visit at Ollivander´s, the old man gave me the creeps last time. Thankfully it would only be a pickup, which wouldn´t take too long. And who knows, maybe the old wand maker was more pleasant than I had thought three years ago.

Because, unlike most wizards who preferred customized wands, dad and I had decided that it would do me better to go with the old ways and bring the wand maker an ingredient of my choosing to create a wand specialized for me. Of course Harry had wanted to the same thing. Thanks to Sirius' … training, Harry and I could bring the wand maker a _very_ personalized ingredient.

Yeah, I admit it, dad had trained me and Harry in the arts of becoming an Animagus. Or better said he gave us the Potion that would let us find out what our forms were and a basic explanation on how to start the transformation. He said the rest was up to us. Took me nearly two years to figure out how to do it. From what Harry told me, he had an easier time with his transformation, but that could be because it was somehow akin to Wandless magic, but that is just my theory.

As it had turned out both Harry and I had something in common. We had very rare Animagus forms – magical ones were not common from what I know.

Once it was clear that I would use the old method and which ingredient would be used for the wand core, Sirius got into contact with Mr. Ollivander and we had set up a time, at the beginning of June before my first year at Hogwarts, where I would come to his shop so he could get the measurements and further information he might need. I can only assume that it had been done the same way for Harry.

The whole time while we walked to the shop, Harry droned on and on about what we would do today and that he could _finally_ come with me to Hogwarts. I couldn´t suppress it and had to laugh out loud halfway to our destination, sometimes Harry´s attitude was just too much. Not in a bad way through, I really loved my brother and couldn´t think of him being different. I really hoped he would never change … too much. His bright and cheerful attitude was one of the things that could make my day just a bit … brighter.

Somehow we managed to get to the shop without drawing too much of a crowd, Harry and I both agreed that those idiots who only wanted to get a glimpse of _the Boy Who Lived_ were really annoying. We quickly entered the shop before anyone could notice us and Harry closed the door behind us.

Stepping into the dusty and cramped shop I was immediately greeted by the owner, Mr. Ollivander. He was a bit strange, but he knew his stuff and is unquestionable one of the best wand makers in existence. "Oh welcome back to my shop Mr. Black. Blackthorn, 13 inches and a strand of Grim fur, right? What can I do for you on this lovely morning?"

"Good morning Mr. Ollivander, and you are right. Like you tend to be often. 'Unyielding and strong, with a very unique and ancient core, you will get great results in your chosen branch of magic.' That were your words if I remember correctly and it seems you were right. I´ve got very good results with my wand and I can only, once again, say thank you." I made a slight bow to show my gratefulness, but Mr. Ollivander only waved me off.

"No need to thank me Mr. Black, like I told you: The wand chooses the wizard. I had nothing to do with it." He spoke with a respectful and well-versed voice, it was clear that he truly loved his work.

"I only give respect and show gratefulness to those who have earned it, which you undoubtedly have." Mr. Ollivander gave me a nod in thanks and I allowed a small smile for a moment, before I schooled my features once again and spoke once more. "But back to business I guess, _we_ didn´t come here to exchange pleasantries after all. No, in fact we are here to pick up my little brother´s wand if possible."

Mr. Ollivander trained his eyes on Harry and a small smile graced his face when he said "Ah, Mr. Potter … or would you prefer Black?"

Harry, who had obviously followed the conversation thus far, smiled at the old wand maker and offered his hand for shaking, while he replied. "Potter is just fine sir. I´m really grateful what dad … Sirius has done for me and Rox, but I´m all the same proud of my birth parents."

After Mr. Ollivander had shaken Harry´s hand, he moved to the back of his shop, obviously to get Harry´s wand. All the time he spoke and somehow his voice carried over to us, no matter how far in the back of the shop he was. "Ah yes I´m sure you are. I can still remember when the Messrs. James and Sirius came into my shop, both young pureblood descendants, but so different from the other old families. And then there was Lily Evans, one of the brightest and most talented witches of her time. I count myself lucky that I got to know them, all three of them. All three of them, and especially Lily, were destined for great things that much I could see from their wands. Truly a shame what happened …"

He droned on somewhere in the back of the shop, but I didn´t pay attention anymore. Instead I leaned over to Harry and whispered "Well we know for sure that she was highly intelligent and powerful indeed. Not everyone could have performed such a ritual like her. Not even mentioning a summoning of a guardian spirit at 17 … Truly amazing …"

All the indication that Harry had heard me, was the small and somber nod he gave. It was quiet for some minutes, with only Mr. Ollivander´s voice in the background, well at least till he came back to the front.

"Ah, here we have it Mister Potter. Rowan, also known as mountain ash, well suited for defensive magic and shields. 11 inches, nice and supple with a light spring. Like your mother´s wand, Charms and powerful Light Magic. Most importantly is of course the core. Like I said to your guardian when he made the request, a unity of two rare cores like these … Not even I know what will come of this. But one thing can be said for sure, a core of Phoenix feather shows a great destiny and Phoenix tears are a sign of healing, in other words camaraderie and strong bonds." He took the described wand from the box he had brought from the back and held it out to Harry. "A wand that will work at its best when you try to help or protect others. Take it. Let´s see if he is suited for you."

Harry took the wand from Mr. Ollivander´s hands, Harry´s hands were shaking a bit, and the magical energy that came from Harry and the wand were like a palpable force. It filled the room with warmth and the soft humming of a Phoenix`s song could be heard. The wand chooses the wizard and obviously this one _had_ chosen. I was truly impressed, my own wand hadn´t given me such a strong reaction. It was clear that this wand was perfect for my little brother.

When the magical energy finally receded, Mr. Ollivander had tears in his eyes. When he spoke his voice was filled with pride. "Never … never in my whole career have I seen something like this. Whatever happens, Mr. Potter, I can assure you that this wand will only ever follow you. You are its true master. I am glad I lived long enough to see this, it gives an old man like me a good feeling." He wiped his eyes with his arms once and when he spoke again he seemed to have gathered himself. "Now this wand officially belongs to you and don´t worry about payment. To watch such a strong union was more than enough payment. Now off you go lads, or is there something else you need my help for?"

Harry still was awestruck and just kept staring at his newly acquired wand, so it fell to me to gather myself and answer Mr. Ollivander. "Yeah, actually there was something. I would like to buy one of your wand holsters, if it were possible."

Now Mr. Ollivander definitely had gathered himself and he looked at me with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. "Of course Mr. Black, no problem at all. I have quite a variety of different holsters. Do you have any preferences?"

"Actually yes, I would like to buy one of your Auror models that was recommended to me."

"Oh, well … normally I don´t sell them to anyone. Like the name suggests, they are reserved for the members of the Auror squad."

"Oh, well nothing to do about it. I just thought … since Alastor Moody recommended them to me …"

"Master Moody … yeah I remember him he actually was here not even half a year ago and brought one of those holsters …" At that point I placed my right hand pointer finger on my left wrist, where suddenly a wand holster appeared. Mr. Ollivander´s eyes got really big, yes bigger than normal, and then he sported a knowing grin and continued. "Well that explains things Mister Black … ok under these circumstances I think I can make an exception. For your brother´s wand I would guess?" I gave a nod. "Ok, you wait here and I will be right back."

Harry, who obviously had caught the gist of the conversation, rounded on me and asked "What the hell is this about?"

"For one, you remember when you asked me about your birthday present and I told you that I would give it to you a bit early, to be precise when we go to Diagon Alley. So happy early birthday brother of mine. Secondly those holsters are really good, Moody send me mine as a birthday present this year. They are normally invisible as long as you wear them, your wand can´t be summoned while in the holster and only you are able to release the wand from the holster, with a flick of your wrist or a bit of magical energy, and the holster from your arm. Basically, while in the holster your wand is absolutely secure." There was a slightly awkward silence between us, for a minute or so and the only sounds in the shop came from the back were owner was. I decided to break the silence with a question that plagued me. "Well, do you like it?"

Harry opened and closed his mouth like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Well, till he sputtered "L- Like it … Rox I _love _it. Thanks, thank you so much. That has to be one of the best birthday presents ever."

I smiled a heartfelt grin and ruffled with my hand through his already unruly hair. "No problem bro."

Just in that moment Mr. Ollivander came back and after a quick test to see that the holster fit on Harry´s arm (through the size was adjustable for when his arm grew) and fitted his wand, I purchased it and we left the shop. Now many Galleons poorer and with a new wand and wand holster, Harry and I made our way over to Flourish and Blotts to get our school books, maybe some 'light' reading material and to meet up with dad.

After a long and successful shopping trip in Diagon Alley and Muggle London, Harry, dad and I practically crashed into our beds that evening.

The next few days were spent with mostly relaxation and only a tad bit training. After all there wasn´t much left to do, since I was already far ahead in my training schedule. The rest of the summer would hopefully be spent in relaxation.

But there was still Harry´s birthday party on the 31st, which was a bit stressful, but nonetheless fun. In attendance were all Weasleys, except Mr. Weasley (at work), Ron (who was grounded but I didn´t bother to ask why) and Bill (still in Egypt), Neville Longbottom with his mother (who was an old friend of Harry´s mom), Remus Lupin, or more commonly known as Uncle Remus, and Moody.

All in all the party was a huge festivity, with a big cake (courtesy of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny who had helped), many presents and a bit of Quiditch on the makeshift pitch behind the house (Harry, Ginny, Fred and Remus against Neville, Charlie, Sirius and Percy; I preferred to stay with my feet on the ground and agreed to make referee). After a large dinner courtesy of the combined work of Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and I, everyone present fell into easy conversation and simply enjoyed the get together.

It was at that point that Charlie announced that he got a job offer as a dragon handler in Rumania, which he would take and he would begin to work on 1st September. Everyone congratulated him and once it was my turn he told me he would prepare everything for when I was leaving the school. Of course that was a joke, but both Charlie and I greatly enjoyed the company and study of magical animals and that had been one of the things that had resulted in our good friendship despite the age difference. I wished him good luck and jokingly told him to hold a spot warm for me.

After that the party quickly dwindled down, since most of the younger kids were spent and the Weasleys needed to check up on Ron. Everyone thanked us for the good food and the great evening and Harry in turn thanked everyone for their attendance and presents.

August just dwindled away somehow, with only a few highlights that I can remember. One of them had been Ginny´s birthday party, were we had been invited. Nothing fancy, of course, only family and friends, but it was one of the best memories I got this summer.

Well that and the 'pre-school dinner' on 31st August that had also become a tradition. Once again it was between the Blacks and the Weasleys, but like always when our families are together, it had been fun and very enjoyable.

Well except of the end of the party, when the Weasleys wanted to go home, since most of the children still had some packing to do. Because there was one Weasley who absolutely didn´t want to go. Ginny had already shed some tears when the party came to an end, since her best friend Harry would be away for three thirds of the year starting tomorrow and she still had a whole year to wait to go to Hogwarts herself. After a promise to see her tomorrow at the station, another one to write at least three times a week (thankfully Sirius had gotten Harry an owl for his birthday) and to come back for Christmas, that catastrophe had also been averted. The Weasley family thanked us once more and then was on their way.

Finally at eleven in the evening I managed to get into my bed and quickly fell asleep. Thankfully I had already packed all my belongings yesterday, which would keep a lot of stress away tomorrow. Still I had greatly enjoyed the holidays, but like all good things it had come to an end.

Looks like my summer vacation is … over.

* * *

><p>AN: I could have continued it a bit longer, but those who know where Roxas comes from will know why I ended the chapter with that line.<p>

_Dark Corridor_: A form of instant traveling, one creates a portal at the starting point and another one at the destination. Portals are formed and connected through darkness. It isn´t restricted by the wards around Hogwarts and maybe no wards at all. Not much more is known about this _Ancient_ form of travel.

Like I said up there, leave a review please and till next week dear readers.


	5. Welcome to another year

(1 September 1991, 11:15, Hogwarts Express)

*Roxas' POV*

With a heavy sigh I finally collapsed into my seat. Looking to my right I saw that Harry had done the same thing.

It had been a rather stressful morning thus far and quite frankly I was tired. Then again I still don´t understand why we have to travel by train if the Floo would be much faster and safer. I´m sure something could be worked out for the muggleborn students as well. Ah well nothing I could do about it.

At eight in the morning, after a very short workout, Harry and I had sat down with our dad for a nice little breakfast for the last time for nearly four months. It had been rather quite at the table, but not an uncomfortable silence. No, in fact we all enjoyed the last peaceful minutes we would have together for a long time.

After breakfast we got our trunks, both already charmed with a feather-light charm, courtesy of Sirius, and thus we had no problems carrying the trunks outside where dad was already waiting.

Last year at Christmas, when I had come home for the holidays, dad had made me one of the best presents ever, a flying motorbike. He owned one too and since I wasn´t that comfortable on a broom, I felt like this was the coolest thing I had ever been given. After that I had used every opportunity to ride my bike along the countryside surrounding Ottery St. Catchpole and from time to time I was even allowed to fly it, through only between our house and the Burrow. Still it felt amazing to have the engines working under me and the wind wiping around me. For the first time ever I actually felt comfortable in the air. But dad had made me promise to never ride the bike too far away and to make sure to remain unseen.

So it came as a nice surprise when yesterday evening dad had announced that we would take the bikes to London. My bike hadn´t as much power as dad´s and thus he decided that he would take both the trunks and Harry on his bike. He quickly shrunk both our trunks till they fitted inside his jacket´s pockets and secured Harry in the sidecar he had attached to his bike. Once we all were seated on the bikes, or in Harry´s case in the sidecar, Sirius and I gave a kick to the kick starts and drove off. Within a minute we had reached a suitable velocity and we each pushed a bit of our magical energy into the SE-plugs (Self-Energy-plugs) that Sirius had added to the bikes to make the flying more secure.

In fact thanks to this alteration the magical vehicles were mostly controlled through the magical power and the intent the driver poured into the vehicle. Another idea dad had already sold to a Wizard´s company. Magical vehicles like our bikes could be a common thing by this time next year, because I heard the company wanted to start the mass production of both magical cars and bikes within the next few months.

Both bikes loomed up accompanied with a loud roar and we soared into the skies.

The flight to London was quite nice, while I still felt better on the ground I at least couldn´t complain about flying with my bike. It was far better than a broom, even if it was a tad bit slower. The only downside was the magical energy needed to make the bikes fly, but that wasn´t too draining and even after this rather long flight I wasn´t too tired and neither was dad. However once we were close to King´s Cross station it took a while to find a suitable place to land. At the end we managed to find a deserted alley some blocks away from the station. While dad and Harry landed with a rather loud thump, I managed to pull in slower and actually landed without as much as a barely audible screech from the breaks.

The ride from the alley to the station was a bit nerve-wracking, since I knew that in the muggle world I wasn´t nearly old enough to drive and thus we had to stay clear of the police if we wanted to avoid a rather bad situation. However we managed and when we pulled into a parking slot in front of the station I felt the happiest I had for a long time. We got carts for our trunks and Hedwig, Harry´s owl. Leisurely we had made our way into the station and through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. The beginning of every Hogwarts-adventure ever.

Once there, Harry and I had placed our trunks in a compartment, just before the feather-light charms wore off thankfully. We got back outside after we had claimed the compartment and waited for the Weasleys. Since we had been a bit early the platform was still mostly deserted, but that at least gave us a good view of the barrier. We waited and waited, until finally ten minutes before the train would leave the Weasley family arrived.

While the twins were carrying their and Ron´s trunks onto the train, Percy was off to head to his Prefect meeting, Harry and Ginny were chatting lively but with hushed voices, Ron was standing off to the side glaring at Harry (Note to myself: Keep at least one eye on Ron … better two) and Sirius was making plans with Mrs. Weasley for the coming months since both (as well as Mr. Weasley but at least he had a normal job to keep him busy) would be rather bored with all the kids gone, I was chatting with Charlie, who would start his new job tomorrow. We talked about his new job, about Care of Magical Creatures (both our favourite subject) and visiting Hagrid, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts who had become a good friend for us both. Not to mention the rather … rare creatures he might have acquired over the holidays.

Sadly enough soon the train gave its first warning whistle and we decided to board the train. Harry was tightly hugged by dad and afterwards just as tightly by Ginny and then her mum. All of them told Harry to stay out of trouble and write often, but only to Ginny Harry made the promise to do just that. Mrs. Weasley and dad both told me the same thing – _keep them out of trouble_. I didn´t even need to ask who they meant. Ginny, surprisingly, gave me quick hug as well and asked me to watch out for Harry. Smiling I promised her to do just that and just then the train gave the second whistle. Harry and I quickly boarded the train and he even hung his head out of the window.

When the train started to move he once again promised to write Ginny soon and often and Ginny in turn came running after the train waving and with tears in her eyes. By the time the train made it around the first curve Harry also had a few unshed tears in his eyes. He moved back in and sat down in front of me in the otherwise empty compartment.

He took some minutes to pull himself together and when he finally did so, he looked up to me with a sad smile and said "I´m really going to miss them, especially Ginny. I just wish she could have come with us."

"I know what you mean bro, but still you got me, the Weasley´s and I´m sure you will make some friends in your year. Just remember what dad told us: 'you don´t need a lot of friends, just some precious few, whom you can truly trust.' Must have been one of the most intelligent things he ever said, right Harrykins."

Thankfully that got a good laugh from Harry and I could feel his depression slip away, while I knew that he would still miss them, at least now I was sure he could make it through the train ride without too much thoughts about them. Good thing too, because I had some rather serious things to discuss with my dear brother before he first set foot into Hogwarts.

Over the previous summer and those before, he had already asked about most of the things I wanted to share with him now, but at that time I thought it would be better for him to learn everything on his own. That is until I saw some of the families, with children who were obviously first years, on the platform today: Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and so on.

Maybe a little head start and extra information would be good for Harry.

So once the mood was calm again I began to talk, at first slowly and unsure, but when I noticed that I had Harry´s rapt attention and that he didn´t even ask questions in between I continued with a stronger and louder voice. First I spoke a bit about Hogwarts, things you got to know like moving staircases and so on. Next was what information I had on the teachers. Mostly it was nothing about them in person, more like how to get along with them. That wasn´t that hard to figure out, do well in their classes and they won´t bother you. That rule however didn´t apply for Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and the headmaster.

For Professor McGonagall there was a little trick, the stern Professor loved rules and loathed everyone who couldn´t follow at least some basic rules, furthermore she loathed outright favouritism and a snobbish attitude. Avoid that and you could get along with the old lady quite well, but if you really wanted her to like you, you needed to find a subject not normally studied at Hogwarts and ask her for assistance in finding out more about it. Because if there was one thing Minerva McGonagall was proud of, it was her vast knowledge on nearly every branch of magic, knowledge that even dwarfed Dumbledore´s. Add to that her drive to learn something new every day and you had a very helpful teacher, that could probably teach a six-year-old the inner workings of the most complex spells. I had figured out this little secret in my second year when I had been stuck with my studies on Ancient Magic. Not knowing what to do I went to my Head of House (Lions for life!) and asked her if she knew of any extra reading material that I might have overlooked in the library. That conversation ended with a lifelong pass for the restricted section, as long as my choice of books was approved by at least another Professor or Madam Pince, the librarian. After that day Professor McGonagall often asked about my recent advance in my extracurricular studies. I think I made a friend or at least gained confidant on that day.

Severus Snape, thanks to both our dad´s also known as Snivellus, was another matter altogether. Because that man simply hated everything that had to do with either James Potter or Sirius Black, bad luck for us I think. For the last three years Snape had insulted me, my family and everything else that had only faintly to do with me. In fact he went so far that he punished everyone even remotely close to me. I didn´t hate the man, but … well I had my fair share of problems with him, but nonetheless I tried not to let it get to me. After all Potions was one of my favourite subjects and I was rather good in it (after all Potion making was like cooking, don´t do it by recipe rather by feel, and I am a fairly good cook).

Still he was one of the reasons that, while I was on fairly good terms with nearly every student in Hogwarts no matter the House they were from, I had few real friends. In fact I could count them on one hand and right now four of those were Weasley´s, not that this was a bad thing. Once again I thought about what dad had told me after my first year, that it doesn´t matter how many friends I have, in fact his exact words were _'__At least you have friends, it doesn´t matter how many. You don't need a lot of friends … just a few are enough … Ones you can really, really trust. That´s what is important, to have true friends.'_

Yeah from time to time dad could be really … wise, I guess. But back to Snape. I don´t like and I don´t hate him, but I still held respect for the man. Because, thanks to the Keyblade and me being a true Keyblade Wielder, I had the ability to look into people´s … hearts would probably be the best term. When I concentrate on a person I can see the light and darkness inside of them and thus determine what a person they are, basically. This however, is never an accurate assessment, it only gives me a basic overview on who they are. But nothing, not even the heart, can only be divided into light and darkness, there are hundreds shades of grey and everyone had its own meaning. I can only find out so much by looking into people's heart. In Snape´s I saw guilt and self-loathing, mixed with nearly unmeasurable pride and the wish to redeem himself. Whatever bad thing Snape did in his past, I knew he greatly regretted it and tried to make up for it. And there was his pride in who he was and what he could do, despite the wrong doings in his past, he still didn´t hate himself. Accepting who you are with all the good _and_ bad things, is one of the hardest things a human can do and a way to great power and wisdom. For that Snape had my respect … and a bit because he really is Potion _Master_.

The same ability that led me to respect Snape (not that I really told Harry to respect the man, more along the lines of who he was and to look past the snide comments and try to learn something from him nonetheless) also led me to mistrust the headmaster. The man had a twisted shade of light grey as his aura, if I had to describe it with one word I think 'puppeteer' would be best suited. Dumbledore wasn´t a bad man by all means, his only problem was that he thought he knew best. A failure that could taint even the greatest of us. He played people like pawns, like puppets, and while he did it for a good cause, he also made some bad decisions sometimes and that led to the suffering of many. He played with forces he had no idea how to control, fate is a dangerous thing and destiny doesn´t like to be tempered with. But that is only the Keybearer in me speaking, the part of me that is actually linked to the Ancient Magic that is called _Destiny._ More than once I heard the term 'Key of Destiny' in my dreams.

But that is only me. What I told Harry was to be cautious around the old meddler, nothing more nothing less. I hadn´t forgotten what Dumbledore tried to do when we first appeared in his office all those years ago and I knew enough about the Dursleys to know how that would have ended. Sirius, of course since he was always sincere with us when we outright asked something, had told Harry about that incident and the immediate distrust Harry had developed against Dumbledore after that revelation made my warning pretty useless. But I felt better saying it anyway.

Lastly I told him what he had to expect when coming to Hogwarts, being the brother of the Boy-Who-Lived, the slayer of Voldemort and so on, I had already gotten a fair share of unwanted attention from the student body and since I knew Harry pretty much hated the fame and all the gawking people who came with it, I thought it would be better to warn him beforehand. I would regret that decision before the Sorting Ceremony was even over.

After I had finished my explanations and Harry´s thirst to learn things about Hogwarts had finally been satisfied, we relaxed a bit and talked about easier things. We were just discussion (arguing) if we should pull a prank at the welcome feast ("Harry you would be the first newcomer to pull something like that!"; "Yeah and the first one to be suspended on his first day. Let me get settled and we can pull something at the Halloween feast."; "What would Sirius and James say …") when the door to our compartment was opened and a bushy brown-haired girl, since I didn´t recognize her probably a first year, and Neville entered.

From what the bossy young witch said Neville had obviously lost his toad again, however a quick summoning charm Harry performed wandless took care of that. After that matter was solved Neville, Hermione (which was the name of the first year witch as I learned) and Harry engaged in a conversation about Hogwarts, wandless magic and whatever came to their minds. I didn´t really involve myself in the conversation and at some point I even drifted off to sleep, despite their chatter.

I was only woken up when the compartment door was opened and a boy, accompanied by two trolls .. ah sorry students, strutted into the compartment.

"So you are the famous Harry Potter I assume." The boy said in a somehow nasty voice. I kept my eyes closed so I obviously didn´t see what happened, but I think Harry confirmed the boy´s question, because the boy continued to speak, but this time in a superior tone. "The name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. These are Crabbe and Goyle, we are all Purebloods from quite prosperous families. You most likely have heard of my family already, my father is rather important in the ministry after all. I heard you grew up somehow secluded, but at least with a proper pureblood from what I heard. I want to offer you a chance to get to know other important families like mine. What do you say?" He paused shortly, but when he spoke again there was a note of disdain and disgust in is voice. "From what I see you need all the help you could get. A Longbottom, a mudblood and –"

He didn´t get any further because I had chosen this moment to open my eyes, I stood up and pressed Draco into the compartment wall with my arm pushing against his neck so fast he couldn´t even blink.

When I spoke I forced my voice to sound cheerful, but I was aware of the dangerous glint I had in my eyes (dad had pointed out that I got a dangerous glint in my eyes whenever I was just seconds from summoning my Keyblade; probably a normal thing for a Keybearer). "How nice of you to join us cousin Draco, but please refrain from using such bad words in my presence. What would your mother say?" I pushed away from the boy, adding a noticeable amount of pressure to Draco´s throat in doing so.

Draco let out a gasp and rubbed his throat. He asked, not without fear in his voice, "Cousin?"

"Yes, didn´t you know? Your mother is a cousin of our dad and that would make us cousins as well, but then again the pureblood families are so inbreed that we are probably all related in some way. Now when you need something you only need to ask after all we are family, but not with that attitude … Is that clear?" For emphasis I released a good portion of my magical energy at the last statement.

Draco just nodded fearfully and slowly backed out of the compartment, his eyes filled with fear never leaving mine. His trolls … ah companions left with him thankfully. Once they were out I relaxed and pulled my magical energy back into my core, while I closed the door and sat back down with a huff.

Only then I noticed the looks I was getting from the younger ones. Hermione was looking at me slightly disapproving, Neville had a look of awe on his face and Harry … Harry just shook his head and with a smirk he muttered "Show-off."

The rest of the train ride was quite enjoyable, besides Hermione´s lecture on proper behaviour, her near breakdown when we explained to her what Draco had said and the meaning of the word 'mudblood' (with no small amount of pride I watched as Harry calmed the distraught girl and Neville gave her a small hug and told her that blood status didn´t matter to _proper _wizards and witches nowadays) … but besides that it was nice. Well except when Ron walked down the hallway.

The youngest male Weasley stopped shortly at our compartment, he looked at all of us through the glass door, narrowed his eyes at Harry and then walked away.

When Harry explained to Hermione, and to some extend Neville as well, what was going on I didn´t try to listen. I knew all this after all and hearing the pain in Harry´s voice would maybe lead to some unpleasant things done to Ron by my hand.

Harry and Ron had known each other since they were two years old and had always been best mates … that is till last year. I only heard about it second-hand, but from what Sirius told me Ron just stopped talking and instead glared at Harry all the time from one day to another. It had taken Charlie, who I had asked for help, some pointed questions, before his father admitted that he had the 'Snitch and Seeker' talk with Ron around the same time Ron stopped talking to Harry.

I only needed one guess as to what Ron´s reason was after I heard this. Obviously Ron had realized what I had known since I was nine years old. In fact the older Weasleys, which meant Charlie, the twins and even Percy, and I had a betting pool going on how long it would take for those two. My guess was they would at least need another three years, Charlie said it would only be two.

We are of course talking about how long it would take for Harry and Ginny to get together. Sure Ron was Harry´s best mate at some point, but when asked who his best friend was Harry would always say Ginny. Those two had been the best friends since the day they met. When Ginny was five she had proclaimed that her and Harry would one day marry. Neither denied that statement until today, even when we were making fun regularly of them because of it. It may not be love, but something was definitely between those two that showed us what everyone who watched them for even an hour would see.

Obviously after the talk Ron had noticed this too and unlike his other brother´s (besides Bill who refused to talk about it) he didn´t approve of that possibility. Like I said he only glared at Harry and watched his every move around Ginny. Not that something would happen between them now, my guess stands. But I noticed how hurt Harry was of Ron´s treatment and if his blushes whenever Ginny comes up are any indication, than he has at least the faintest idea why Ron could be mad.

Unfortunately Charlie had rightfully, as much as I hated to admit it, pointed out that it would be better for me not to involve myself in the matter. Otherwise I would have a nice and long discussion with Ron … one that would involve several sharp and pointy swords. But no, that was something between those three, because I heard Ron was also treating Ginny colder than any brother should and if it got out of hand than Charlie promised me to take care of it. But now he was away in Rumania and …

I was shook out of my musings by the train slowing down, obviously we had arrived. Hermione and Neville quickly went back to their compartment to change and promised to meet Harry outside. Harry and I quickly pulled our own robes over our normal clothes and I, just for appearances sake, pulled the magic coat I had as my legacy as a Keybearer over my robes. Like always the magical coat adjusted to my size perfectly and after I had, one last time, made sure Harry was decent enough to face the whole school at the sorting, we stepped out of our compartment and left the train.

I once again told Harry to be careful when crossing the lake, that it wouldn´t matter where he was sorted and for Merlin´s sake that he shouldn´t make a scene in front of the whole school. He didn´t listen to that last part sadly.

I watched while Harry walked over to Neville and Hermione, before I made my way to one of the carriages. While I couldn´t see them I could still feel the creatures pulling the carts, Thestrals was what Hagrid had told me they were called. Fred and George were already in the carriage and together we rode up the way to Hogwarts, all the way until we sat down on the Gryffindor table we spoke about possible prank ideas for this year, who the new DADA Professor would be and the upcoming first years. We only stopped speaking when Professor McGonagall entered with the 'Firsties' in line after her.

I could clearly see her disapproving look when she passed me, not that it was surprising. Sure we had made a deal that I would wear the school robes at least when there was a feast, but she never specified that I couldn´t wear my cloak over them. Checkmate.

She walked on as if nothing had happened, but I knew she had seen my challenging smile, the obedient first years followed after her without missing a step. Soon they stood before the head table and one by one were called up to place the Sorting Hat on their heads. That was of course after the Hat had finished his song.

Everything went smoothly until Harry Potter-Black was called. Harry however tried his best to ignore the stares, or so I thought. In fact he merely concentrated his magic for one massive transfiguration. The moment he sat down on the chair and placed the hat on his head, I felt the magic rolling of Harry and taking a hold of every single person in the hall. Or rather their robes. It was a simple colour changing spell, but at that scale it was an astounding piece of magic.

My cloak, bless it, protected me with its inwoven shield charm and so only I, a few Professors and the occasional talented Seventh year remained unfazed by the prank. For the robes of everyone, who wasn´t protected from Harry´s silent and wandless spell, had turned neon pink. For a moment everyone was so shocked that no one even realized that the hat had just announced Harry a Gryffindor. It were the Weasley twins, who obviously took the prank in stride, who stood up first and started clapping and cheering. Soon the rest of my housemates joined in as well, well those who weren´t too embarrassed to do so. Precious few.

The rest of the student body and even the few teachers who were hit by the spell, looked down on their tables in embarrassment or they were trying to change their robes back. By the time everyone had settled down the Sorting was already over. Other than Harry there were also Hermione and Neville, as well as 10 other first years. Through I didn´t pay much attention I also noted that Ron was sorted into Gryffindor as well. Oh bother.

After the Sorting there was the meal, which like always was highly enjoyable and I swear one day I´m going to convince one of the house-elves to teach me how to cook like that. Either that or I manage to convince Mrs. Weasley, who could easily cook on the same level.

After the meal Dumbledore made his speech, once again I didn´t pay too much attention. Still I noted that he was looking at me and the Weasley twins when he said that the Forbidden Forest is just that and we would do good to remember it. As if. A full-grown Grim needs outlet and there was no better way to relax, than to bound through the forest in my Animagus form.

He also mentioned that a corridor on the third floor was forbidden this year, perhaps I should investigate that … Or maybe not. Who knows, maybe if I´m bored enough …

After his speech Dumbledore ended the feast. Since I had no haste I remained sitting for a while, I waved to Percy, Harry, Hermione and Neville when they made their way, Percy as Prefect in the lead, upwards to the Gryffindor Tower. Through I think only the last three noticed. Some minutes after they had left and silence began to settle in the hall I stood up, not in the least bit surprised to find Fred and George waiting for me. Without a word they fell into step with me.

It was halfway up to the Tower when George began to speak. "We have finished it over the summer …"

"Was a real pain in the ass …"

"That it was, oh brother of mine, but on to other business."

"Say, oh fearless leader …"

"Do you perhaps know who the culprit of that magnificent prank was …"

"There isn´t a chance that it was idle Harrykins …"

"Is there?"

Letting out a deep sigh I walked on without answering for some time. Close to the Tower I pulled them into an empty classroom and once it was warded with Notice-me-not and Silence charms, I started to explain and lay out the plan I had formed over the summer. To say both were enthusiastic would be an understatement. After the plans were in place and Fred and George had promised to notify the other possible members, we left the classroom and made the rest of our way to the Tower. The Fat Lady didn´t even bother to ask me for a password, since I had made clear to her in my Second Year that it was quite hard to lock out a Keybearer.

I said goodnight to my companions and made my way to the bedroom I shared with my three roommates. However Thorfinn Rowle, Phillip Dowson and Even Vane (he preferred simply Van) were already asleep. I quickly prepared for bed, since it was still summer a simple sweatpants was sufficient and within a few minutes I lay in my comfortable four-poster-bed.

However sleep didn´t come that easily to me and while I lie in my bed and just let my thoughts drift, one thing came to me repeatedly. A feeling that this year would be … interesting at least.

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><p>AN: I know I´m late again, but fear not because I have finally some time off from work and surely I can fit in some writing in the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned.<p>

Oh before I forget it, special thanks to triggbc, you saved me from a lot of embarrassment with your comment.

Also I would like to thank every one of you who followed, favorited or reviewed. You are what keeps me going.

That´s it from me. Till next time dear readers and leave a review please.


	6. Neo Marauders

(31 October 1991, girl lavatory)

*Roxas' POV*

"Boy oh boy … what a mess." And truer words were never spoken I mused while I looked around the bathroom I found myself in.

All in all the term thus far had been quite enjoyable and today should have marked a great thing and the continuation of something really awesome. However, like always trouble finds you when you least expect it. In other words, I´ve messed up big time.

The year at Hogwarts had started so well. Classes were, well not easy, but not too hard either. The occasional prank I pulled with the twins certainly managed to lighten the mood. Harry had done well in his classes also, he even managed to hold back a bit and don´t reveal his wandless magic thus far. While Snape had been his usual self, to me and Harry, we got through this and at least he graded our work fairly enough. There was, like every year, the one or another confrontation with the Slytherins, but all in all the situation got better and the ties that bind the four Houses together are better than in the last years. There even were some occasions when a Slytherin and a Gryffindor could be seen working together. What I noticed and what got me a bit curious was that Draco Malfoy was staying out of all the confrontation, he merely watched them, as if he was evaluating something. But the answer to that question wouldn´t present itself soon.

And today should have marked the beginning of something very good. Because for the last two months, with the help of the twins, I managed to approach a couple of people from all four Houses, who I thought might make good enough friends. There were people from all four Houses who seemed interested in my proposal and tonight should have been the first gathering of a new 'study group' under the name of the _Neo Marauders. _

However, all these plans were put on hold while we sat at the feast. Because halfway through the meal Professor Quirrel, the always frightened Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, came running into the Great Hall and announced the presence of a Troll in the castle. Professor Dumbledore ordered the Prefects to lead all the students back to their common rooms, why he ordered everyone to leave the relative safety of the Great Hall, while there was a Troll running around, I will never know or understand. Nevertheless all the students, through some more reluctant than others, followed the order of the Headmaster and soon we were on the way to the Gryffindor Tower.

Don´t know if it was luck or something else that ought me to look into Harry´s direction, while he and the other first years followed after Percy, with the rest of the Gryffindors following behind. However, as luck would have it I noticed what nobody else did: Harry and Neville managed to break away from the group and ran down a different Hallway. Damn it.

Looking around I quickly spotted Fred and George some paces in front of me, with their peers. A whispered "Cover me" made sure that there was a slight diversion by those two that gave me the time to slip away too. When I saw George stumble over his own feet and making a big show of falling down, bringing Fred and two others down with him, I had to thank my lucky star that those two obviously knew when I was joking. And this certainly wasn´t such a time.

With the help of George´s spectacle, I managed to slip away from the crowd and followed into the same hallway Neville and Harry had gone through, but still they had about thirty seconds lead and I barely saw the brim of their robes when they rounded the next corner.

Making a decision in the spur of the moment, I walked at a reasonable pace, barely fast enough to keep up with them. I wanted to find out what they were doing. But then something odd occurred to me. Why wasn´t Hermione with those two?

I stopped dead in my tracks, as if I had hit an invisible wall. How could I be so forgetful? Damn it!

It had been just before lunch, Care for Magical Creatures had just ended, a practical lesson, and I and my classmates were just making our way up to the castle, to enjoy a nice and peaceful lunch. When we were already close to the castle entrance something caught my eye that destroyed my dreams of a peaceful lunch. A bunch of first years was just making their way inside and even from my distance I could hear the snide and hateful comments of one Ron Weasley.

I didn´t hear everything he said, but from what I heard he badmouthed Hermione, because she had done much better than him in Charms and then 'had the nerve to actually try to help him'. I don´t know exactly what set everything in motion, but my educated guess would be the word 'mudblood', from a Weasley nonetheless.

It happened fast, too fast for me to intervene. Hermione let out a startled gasp and I would bet with teary eyes, she ran into the castle. Neville was only seconds after her. Normal behaviour thus far, well except of Ron, but it was Harry´s reaction that shocked me. While Ron barely managed to get out a hollow laugh, Harry had raised his hand and concentrated his magical energy. Seconds after Ron was two meter in the air and pressed into the castle wall, by the force Harry was unleashing.

When I had finally processed what had just happened, I ran over to Harry in a dead sprint, I reached him just in time. I grabbed his arm and slowly lowered it, Ron following the movement landed on the ground the moment Harry finally relaxed his arm completely and stopped fighting me. That could have ended far worse.

Only now I noticed that we were alone, the rest of the first years had obviously scattered out of fear.

An hour later Harry, Neville, Ron and I left Professor McGonagall's office after a very tiring conversation with our Head of House. Thankfully the stern Professor had believed me, Neville and Harry, so while Harry had a reason to react the way he had that still didn´t excuse such a behaviour. So it came down to one detention with Professor McGonagall for Harry and for Ron´s unworthy behaviour of a Gryffindor that would be better suited for a snake, Ron cost us thirty points and, since he already had Slytherin behaviour, he would serve one week of detentions with Professor Snape. A bit harsh, but he brought it upon himself. I was only thankful that Harry got away with a glancing blow.

But the crux of the matter was that Neville told us that Hermione had locked herself in a bathroom and was still crying. As far as I knew, Harry and Neville decided they would get her, if she doesn´t show up at the feast. So that probably meant Hermione was still somewhere in the castle and knew nothing of the troll.

I made a few hasty steps forward, before I noticed my mistake. I stood at a junction, with one hallway going to the left, one to the right and the hallway I was in continued on. Damn I didn´t know where they had gone. For a few moments I stood there and contemplated my possibilities, that is until a high-pitched scream alerted me of their or at least Hermione´s position.

The twin screams of "Hermione" in what obviously were male voices, alerted me that Harry and Neville were also there. Without hesitating another second I took the left hallway and sprinted till I came to a slightly ajar door. From inside I heard another scream and a deep and loud grunt. Shit!

Pushing the door open I was met with a frightening sight. The first thing I noticed was the troll in the middle of the room, with some confusion I noticed some shallow cuts on the troll´s body, after all troll hide was rather thick and to harm a troll needed very powerful spells. Next I noticed two figures at the far end of the room, Neville stood protectively in front of an obviously terrified Hermione. Not that he could do much should the troll decide to attack.

The troll's attention was however focused on a small figure in front of him, it seems Harry had been the one to harm the troll, but now the troll had him cornered and already it was lifting its heavy club to smash him. Without any conscious thought I dashed forward and when I landed between Harry and the troll I jumped upwards with my Keyblade flashing to my hand.

_Nobody´s Redemption, _as my Keyblade was named, flashed to my left hand in a blinding light of grey and silver. It appeared how I needed it and I held it backhanded while I was jumping upwards to meet the club. For the troll was already bringing down his club, it passed by me on my left side and was immediately met with the resistance of my Keyblade. I pushed as hard as I could, but I was nowhere powerful enough to completely stop the club, I was however strong enough to avert its course.

The club hit the ground and cracked many tiles, only inches from Harry. I had other problems however, because of my uncalculated jump I was making a bee line and would hit the troll in the face with my body. Not really a nice thing to do and definitely not on my to-do-list for today.

I twisted in mid-air and managed to redirect my path slightly, so instead of my body it was my Keyblade that hit the troll in the face. With a bit of surprise and a lot of hope I noticed that my Keyblade left a rather deep gash in its wake, right under the troll´s left eye. A plan started forming in my head and without hesitating a second I performed it.

Moody had mentioned doing this in passing one or two times while he trained me in the Sword Arts, according to him it was a very complex manipulation of magical energy, but as I tried it right then it felt rather … natural. I just had to guide the energy to my blade and concentrate on shape it there, what appeared was an aura surrounding the blade of _Nobody´s Redemption._ But unlike normal magical energy, which was light blue, the aura was golden coloured.

I landed, barely able to balance myself, on the shoulder of the troll and without a second of hesitation, I plunged my enchanted Keyblade in the side of the troll´s neck. The golden aura flared once when it touched the troll´s skin and then my Keyblade continued without resistance.

I let go of my Keyblade when I lost my foothold and fell of behind the troll, I barely managed a roll, but I didn´t train for nothing these last years. I managed the roll and came out of it in a standing position, I turned around and looked at the troll´s back. My Keyblade still in its neck.

The troll stood still for a few seconds and then, as if the knowledge of its death had just caught up with it, it swayed once and then fell forward. Landing right at Harry´s feet.

Everything was silent after the troll had fallen and I found myself at loss of words too. Not knowing what better to do, I summoned my Keyblade to me, thankfully free of all substances, and then proceeded with dismissing it in another flash of silver and grey. At least that evidence was taken care off.

With my most pressing concerns, despite Harry´s, Hermione´s and Neville´s safety, taken care of, I surveyed the room and found a picture of destruction. Destroyed tiles, toilets and sinks, two grime and water covered students in one corner and a shell-shocked, blood covered in the other, not to mention a big and stinking troll that was slowly bleeding to its death in the middle of the room.

Suddenly I found the perfect words for this matter. "Boy oh boy … what a mess."

"Ro- … Roxas, what the hell are you doing here?"

The shocked voice and facial expression of Harry startled me out of my musings. Only now I realized that I hadn´t been in the room for more than a minute and perhaps my sudden appearance, not to mention the way in which I took care of the troll, might have startled the younger students. Oh well, nothing to do about it.

"Saving your sorry behind for a start. How could you even dream of defeating a full-grown mountain troll?! Do you three have a death wish?!" Ok maybe screaming at them wasn´t the best approach and in hindsight I can admit that it perhaps was a mistake, but I had just fought not only for my life and it left me a bit on the edge.

It was a quiet sob from Hermione that immediately calmed me down and now with my anger gone I was disgusted with my reaction, after all those three First Years had just feared for their lives and they obviously didn´t choose to fight the troll. I can be such an idiot sometimes.

"It … it wasn´t … to fight the troll. I … I … I-" Hermione tried to explain to me, but in the end she gave in to the tears. While Hermione was crying and Neville was trying his best to calm her down, Harry rounded in on me.

"What the hell Roxas! I was just grateful to you that you saved my life, but what are you thinking?! Do you really think we came here to fight the troll, because you at least should know the truth. You knew what was going on earlier. We just came here to get Hermione, but the troll was already in here. So I made a diversion by attacking the troll, while Neville went to get Hermione out of here and then you came …" For a moment Harry looked absolutely at loss for words, but then his eyes narrowed and he asked in a deathly calm voice "I thought you were my brother, shouldn´t we stick together, shouldn´t you trust me?"

Great, now I´m feeling even worse than before. I´m such a git. "I … I´m sorry, I didn´t mean it okay. And we are sticking together okay?" My voice was weak and close to breaking, but seeing the forgiveness in Harry´s eyes I quickly got my usual confident mask back on. "Okay, listen you three. In a minute the Professors will be here, this is what we will tell them: …"

It was two hours and a visit in the hospital wing later that we finally were back in the common room. The two hours were mostly spend convincing the teachers that it wasn´t really our fault what happened in that bathroom. To make a long discussion short we told them mostly the truth, but instead of the Keyblade we, even Hermione, said that I had used a very powerful cutting curse. The result was a week of detention with Hagrid for me, not that I minded that much, and thankfully the other three got away with a stern warning. After Madam Pomfrey had let us go after we had marched up there to get cleaned up I wanted nothing more than to fall in my bed.

Unfortunately Hermione would have nothing of it. While she had covered for me in front of the Professors, she still wanted an explanation to what really happened. So after another two hours of explanations from me, uncountable questions from Hermione and the occasional assurance from Harry that I spoke the truth, I was finally allowed to crawl into bed. But not without the promise to borrow Hermione some of my notes. Oh well, at least we are safe right?

Wrong! Obviously word had gotten out that I had defeated the troll all on my own and that Harry had rather strong magic abilities, like wandless magic at eleven. While half the school looked at us with breathless wonder and the other half was scared to death what we could do with our abilities, we had some rather gruesome following weeks.

Well, at least our close friends stayed with us and we started the _Neo Marauders_ but with a lot fewer people than we had hoped. In fact the only not-Gryffindor was Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff from my year and probably my only true friend in my year. Other than him there were Fred and George, surprisingly Percy (a study group is a good way to share knowledge and help each other with homework) Weasley and I. And from Harry´s year we had of course Harry, Neville and Hermione. That´s it.

From the over two hundred invited students only those decided to come, all because Harry and I were a bit more powerful than normal. Unfortunately we could do nothing about our questionable fame.

But that didn´t stop us from having a good time at Hogwarts. With the _Marauders _now in action, the rest of the term turned out to be quite interesting. Of course in tradition to the original Marauders we pulled the occasional prank on whoever deserved it, more often than not it was a Slytherin.

First however, we decided a coming out prank was necessary. Despite common belief and appearances, Percy actually liked a good prank, as long as there was no bullying involved. Since our first prank as a group affected the whole school, us included, he was all for it.

The prank was ingenious and the idea came from Harry´s school wide transfiguration at the Sorting Ceremony. We decided to do something along the same lines, but slightly more inventive. To find, learn and place the necessary runes in the Great Hall, took us nearly a week. And then another two weeks to fill them with enough magical energy to do the job.

It was on the 21 November that finally everything was in place. We came down to breakfast as a group, a bit early to have good seats for the coming spectacle. At exactly 8:00, just when the most people were leaving for classes, over 200 hidden runes began to glow in a soft light. Only seconds later the soft glow became a blinding light which held for five seconds, once everyone could properly see again the Great Hall was filled with laughter and shrieks of embarrassment.

We had only charmed the clothes, but the results were hilarious. All Slytherins now wore dresses from the beginning of the 19th century, even the boys, the Huffelpuffs looked like they were made out of metal, Ravenclaws made a good impression as Scarecrows and the Lions wore just that, Lion costumes. The teachers looked like fairy tale characters, from Dumbledore as Father Time, over Hagrid as Santa Claus to Professor Sprout as the Fairy Godmother. Exception to that were only Snape as the Wicked Witch of the West, Professor Flitwick as the Wizard of Oz and Professor McGonagall as Glinda the Good Witch of the North.

Dumbledore obviously greatly enjoyed the prank and even suggested to wait for the charms to wear off, which wouldn´t be till the early evening hours. Thanks to his encouraging there was even an improvised performance of the Wizard of Oz during lunch. Cedric and Fred played the respectful parts of their figures. All in all most people, even many Slytherins, enjoyed the prank and the performance. It wasn´t until dinner that the culprits announced themselves.

Shortly after dinner had started a single firework went off behind the Head Table. The sparks aligned themselves and in neat writing a message appeared.

_In honour of Messrs. Moony, Padfoot and Prongs. Today´s prank was given to you by the __**Neo **__**Marauders**__. An enjoyable meal wish Messrs. Red and Ogre, Grin, Fiery and Burly._

While most people were still in shock after the message appeared I leaned over to Percy, Neville and Hermione and barely above a whisper asked "Already regretting that you didn´t want your names in it?"

The slightly ashamed looks from those three was all the answer I needed.

The next few weeks passed in a blur, I got to classes, studied with the _Marauders_, managed to squeeze the occasional training period in and continued the study of Ancient Magic.

The only noticeable thing that happened was at the beginning of December. I had always asked myself if Harry, Neville and especially Hermione would retaliate against Ron for what he had done on Halloween. On that day I got the answer.

This prank was even more ingenious than our last and the spell work involved was far more advanced than any first year should know.

When Ron groggily entered the Great Hall one morning, with Dean and Seamus as company, not everyone immediately noticed. I did, since I made sure to keep an eye on Ron whenever I could, this resulted in me snorting in my pumpkin juice. One half of the table was looking at me funnily, but the other half, who had obviously seen the changes on dear Ron, had similar problems as I had. For this time not only had Ron´s Robes changed to a neon pink, but his hair and freckles were now bright yellow and his skin a nice shade of harlequin. A hideous mix and definitely one of Harry´s worst colour combinations ever.

But that wasn´t all, no obviously someone (Hermione) had obviously placed an illusion over Ron to let him look completely normal, at least to him and the teachers. He needed nearly half of the morning to notice that he was the reason of all that laughter and another two hours to convince McGonagall that something was wrong. Once she had seen through the illusion it was easy for her to undo the spells.

But that hadn´t happened till after lunch, when Neville crowned the prank with a well-placed and completely unnoticed spell that charmed the back of Ron´s pink robes to show in white letters a message.

_This artwork is presented to you by Lady Shaggy and Messrs. Fiery and Snug._

That prank started something, no one of us thought would ever happen. Since now all _Neo Marauders_ other than Percy had shown themselves, he felt the need to have a coming out himself.

It was at the last day before the Christmas holidays when he made his move. Somehow he had managed to charm Professor Dumbledore, or at least his drink and the moment the headmaster had taken the first sip from his goblet at breakfast something happened that would go down in History of Hogwarts. For the headmaster stood up after said sip and started to sing, not bad if I might add. He sang a ballade, a country song and had just started a love song, when finally Professor McGonagall had pity and broke the charm. Dumbledore would go down into the annals of Hogwarts of the Singing Head and Music Master.

Over his head stood in golden letters the following message:

_The last of the __**Neo Marauders**__ offers his greetings and compliments the headmaster on his singing voice. The best wishes by Mr. Beebother._

And just like that the _Neo Marauders_ were in the open, I couldn´t have been prouder. However, pranks weren´t the only thing we did, as a group we also put forth a lot of effort in our studies and for the assignments we got. Well, thanks to Hermione´s, Cedric´s and Percy´s insistence, otherwise we would have probably slacked off much more. Thanks to their knowledge and theoretical understanding of magic and Harry´s and Neville´s practical ability at spell casting we were pretty good off whenever someone had to learn a new spell. The twins offered a new and sometimes crazy perspective whenever we were stuck somewhere, more often than not it helped with problems Percy had, as he was the one who had to make preparations for his OWLs. Sometimes the advanced or commonly unknown knowledge Cedric and I had to offer helped, too. Especially when Professor Flitwick wanted all his student, no matter which year they were, to present a spell, practical and write a theoretical summary of spell.

Other than that the term had passed quickly and before I even knew it the Christmas holidays waited around the corner. As I heard this year the Weasleys would stay in Hogwarts and Hermione had mentioned that she wanted to stay as well. While I would, normally, had thought about staying with them, Sirius had sent both Harry and me a letter to come home for the holidays, since there was something planned that we would both greatly enjoy. Nothing to do about it.

So on the morning after Percy´s prank both Harry and I sat down on the train, this time with Neville and Cedric in the compartment. While I had been worried at first, about the age difference in our group it turned out to be no problem at all and more often than not I felt like a big brother to our Firsties and the others admitted to me, secretly, that they felt the same.

The ride was spent in casual conversation and laughter, while we planned the next pranks and discussed what else the new term might bring. All too soon the ride was over and we made our way, with our trunks, out of the train and onto the station to watch for our families.

It didn´t take long for Cedric to find his mother, his father was probably at work, he said a quick goodbye and promised to meet us on the train back to Hogwarts.

Neville soon followed after him, when his Grandmother came over to pick him up, sadly both his parents were at work, but that didn´t bother him much. While Augusta Longbottom might come over as stern and solemn, she still had a kind heart and Neville greatly enjoyed staying with her from time to time. He promised to write us over the holidays and then was off.

It took a bit longer for Harry and me to find Sirius, but once the platform had cleared a bit we saw him leaning onto a stone pillar close to the entrance. When we walked over to him he smiled at us like the Cheshire Cat and for a moment I feared his face would split in two. Just when we came into talking range we learned the reason for that and what our dad, and obviously Mrs. Weasley, had planned.

"Guess what, we´re going to Romania!"

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><p>AN: First I would like to answer a question from last chapter´s reviews: No Roxas is not in Fred´s and George´s year, he is one above them. Coincidently that also places him one year under Percy. In other words, right now he´s in his Fourth year.<p>

Now before I get some angry reviews saying that I didn´t get the facts right, I know in canon Cedric is in the same year as Fred and George, but for the purpose of this story I placed him one year higher. In fact I only changed his birthdate (which is only known to be somewhere between September and October) to half a year earlier. The actual date I´ve chosen will be stated later on.

Now on to another matter, is there someone out there who might guess who is who when it comes to Marauder names. If you get all of them right (perhaps a PM would be better for that purpose) get´s to choose ... something, okay? I know what the prize is, but you won´t find out what it is until you get the 'riddle' right.

Other than that I got nothing. Once again I want to thank every new favorite, follower or review, you guys keep me working. Till next time, which will be somewhere around Christmas, dear readers.


	7. Unforgettable Holidays

AN: Just a short note at the beginning. This is a (late) Christmas present to all those of you, who may have wondered when I would truly introduce the Keyblade. Well, here it is.

Disclaimer: Just noticed that I had forgotten to do this the last two chapters. But sadly I still don´t own Harry Potter, Kingdom Hearts, or much of anything for that matter. So nope, not mine.

* * *

><p>*Roxas' POV*<p>

Sometimes our dad really is a genius. The idea to visit Charlie in Romania was certainly one of his brighter moments, as it was our little family would go and Sirius had given the Weasleys a trip to Romania as an early Christmas present. Like always the Weasley pride held true and they fought Sirius tooth and nail over 'such an expensive gift'. In the end they came to the agreement that only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny would go, but Sirius was at least allowed to pay for accommodation and travel costs and the rest would be evenly divided. Which meant dad would try everything he could to pay as much as possible. He often said he wanted to 'waist' the Black fortune in ways his parents wouldn´t have approved of.

With the arrangements in place and everything prepared and packed, three Blacks met three Weasleys early in the morning of the 16th December and together we made our way to the Ministry of Magic. From the Floo in the Atrium we made our way, our baggage shrunken and in our pockets, to the Department of Magical Transportation, were we got the approved Portkey that would bring us directly to the Dragon reserve. We took the Portkey from the atrium and one stomach disturbing travel later, were only the adults remained standing at our arrival, we were greeted by Charlie and shown to our cottage for the next two and a half weeks.

The reserve was fairly large with over 100 hectare included in the heavenly warded area. Every few meters were muggle repelling charms and the area were the dragon handlers lived was completely hidden from both human and dragon eye. Included in the living area was a huge building were hatchlings, who had lost their parents, were raised. Besides the small valley where the buildings were, the reserve was mostly dominated by high mountains and large expanses of forest in the valleys. The occasional river and three mountain lakes which were fed by those rivers and thaw were meeting places for the over one hundred dragons living in the reserve. It wasn´t the biggest reserve in the world and not even the best equipped, but in the eyes of the dragon handlers, and in my eyes as well, it was perfect.

Our cottage was part of the living area and normally was inhabited by five dragon handlers, who were on vacation over the holidays. Five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a small sitting area. Not the biggest house but still nice. While the cottage was rather small and with four Weasleys and three Blacks the sitting room was rather crowded, but it also had a homey feeling. Mrs. Weasley took it upon herself to decorate the sitting room and the outside of the cottage, nothing fancy mind you, but you would be surprised what a bit of magic and one talented in transfiguration, like dad, could do when under the guidance of one Molly Weasley. Yeah in the span of one day they had managed to convert the small cottage in something like a home for the five of us.

The week leading up to Christmas was spent with days of exploring the reserve, playing with the hatchlings and I was even allowed, by Charlie´s superior, to go on rounds with Charlie, checking up on some of the older dragons, securing the nests and helping feeding nesting mothers, which was rather dangerous, and making sure no territorial fights came up. I confirmed what I had already known for a while now, I loved working with magical creatures and I actually considered doing something like that for a living later on.

While I accompanied Charlie on his daily work, Mrs. Weasley and Sirius decorated the cottage and Mr. Weasley tried everything to keep the decorating in reasonable dimensions, Harry and Ginny spent most of their time in the raising building. They helped feeding the youngest hatchlings, played with the mostly safe younglings and even once helped with reintroduction of one hand raised young dragon. But they also spent a lot of time outside, playing in the snow and even sometimes playing in the woods (or rather Harry helping Ginny with the Animagus transformation, something they had worked on for the last few weeks of the summer but didn´t manage to finish).

And just like that the week leading up to Christmas dwindled away and before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve all human inhabitants of the reserve came together in the middle of the camp, sitting around a huge bonfire and equipped with warm clothes and warming charms we spent the evening in good company, with storytelling, a lot of fun and a nice meal, were everyone had contributed something. Mrs. Weasley and I had worked together on our part of the meal and managed to present five huge roast gooses to the crowd. The meal was interesting, with a wide variety of foods from different countries, thanks to the mix of people working at the reserve. Once everyone was fed and the bonfire began to dwindle, there was a last story told.

It was the Christmas Story, wizard version, told by the oldest worker of the camp, a Mr. Tanaka, who came originally from Japan, with his nearly seventy years he was the most experienced and thus also superior worker at the reserve. To hear the story told with his raspy and aged added a whole new flair to it and it was truly captivating. After the story everyone thanked him and wished each other a Merry Christmas, before we all retired to bed.

The next morning dawned bright and early, too early for even my liking, but if I learned anything from the past six Christmases my family and the Weasleys had spent together, it was to wake up early if you didn´t want a Weasley waking – patent pending- and this was something I really wanted to avoid. Unfortunately Harry hadn´t learned his lesson yet.

So while I could wave off Ginny when she came bursting in my room, I was already fully dressed and prepared for the day, Harry wasn´t so lucky. Five minutes later a very red-faced Ginny emerged from Harry´s room and Harry followed not two minutes later. Maybe I should have mentioned to her that Harry had taken to sleep shirtless … no, where would have been the fun in doing so?

Me and Charlie, who had come over just after I had woken up, had watched the spectacle from a little bit further down the hallway and when an extremely blushing Harry, still in his sleeping pants and a shirt hastily thrown over and hair in an unmanageable mess, followed an equally as much blushing Ginny, Charlie handed over a Sickle over to me. Yeah the day had started well.

Shortly after all four Weasleys and we three Blacks came together in the sitting room to open our presents, while some – dad – were groggier than others, we still had all yielded to Ginny´s, and to some extent Harry´s, bugging to open the presents before breakfast.

The haul that year was a good one. I got the usual homemade sweater from Mrs. Weasley, a present that meant very much to me since normally only her children got one for me and Harry to be involved in that tradition meant much to us; a muggle razor, with a bit of magic added here and there, from Mr. Weasley, another family tradition and I was touched that he included me into this one as well; an old and worn looking book from dad with the title _Hikari vs. Yami, Legendary Wars and their meaning_, what at first look seemed like a history book mixed with fairy tales, was actually a quite accurate description of wars and battles in ancient times, with some intriguing instructions on _Ancient Magic_ hidden between the lines; from Moody I got a Foe-Glass, something that could show my enemies and certainly something the aged Ex-Auror owned himself; the book _Fantastic Beasts and where to find them_ in the first edition, signed by Newt Scamander; from Fred and George I got a huge packet of Dr Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, probably for me to use on New Year´s Eve and there was a note added from Percy that he had given his share for it as well and to only use them when under parental control; Hermione and Neville had gifted me a Gryffindor scarf, a very thoughtful gift since I had mentioned to them (and Harry) once that my last one had been ripped at the last game the previous year and Harry and Ginny had given me a nice but simple knife and the matching scabbard, from Cranville Quincey's Magical Junkshop, the dagger was one of the sold antiques and had caught my eye, on our trip to Diagon Alley to do our school shopping, since it somehow looked like a smaller version of a Keyblade I had seen once in my dreams, there was even a Keychain attached to the dagger. Yes quite the haul.

Since I had been occupied with opening my own presents I had missed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley´s reaction to my present, a ward stone that I had charmed myself, with my Keyblade for extra strength, which would act as a so called 'Key-Anchor' that would act as the main focus point for every ward it was added to and only if this one was overpowered one could attempt to overpower the other anchors, so in short it was an extra protection for their home.

I had given the same thing to Sirius and I didn´t even need to look to know he was impressed, Key-Anchors were incredibly advanced for a fourth year.

Charlie had gotten a highly fire resistant coat, in the same style as my own and specifically made by Madam Malkin on my request. That he had already donned it was proof enough that he liked it.

Harry had gotten a set of twin daggers from me, they were dull, but attached to them was a note promising lessons for the summer and a real set of daggers once he had mastered their usage.

Harry and I had consolidated our money, thankfully we both had free reign over our vaults at Gringotts (Harry´s being set up by his parents and mine by Sirius when I had started at Hogwarts) and together we were able to buy Ginny the newest broom on the market, a Nimbus 2000. Extremely expensive and I could actually feel the elder Weasley´s disapproving looks, but it was only fair. Harry and Ginny were both born to fly and since Harry had gotten one before it was even released (the Black family name still held a lot of power) for Christmas last year, it was only fair to give Ginny the same broom to match.

Once we all had thanked each other and Harry and I had gotten our lecture by Mrs. Weasley to don´t spent so much, we were ready to head outside for a bit fun in the snow, when I noticed something. There were still two presents left. One turned out to be for Harry and the handwriting seemed slightly familiar to me, but I couldn´t place it. The other was for me and this time I immediately recognized the handwriting, but … but this was impossible.

I voiced my thought in form of a whispered "Impossible?"

Unfortunately dad managed to catch what I had said. "Rox, who is this present from, if you don´t know it maybe you shouldn´t open it."

Only when dad spoke up I noticed that everyone, besides him, was focused on the Invisibility Cloak Harry had received and that I had been so focused on my present for the last minutes, that I hadn´t noticed a thing that was going on around me.

Making a decision in the split of a moment I plastered a smile on my face and said, what was hopefully a cheerful voice, "No, I know who this is from … it's … it's just that I want to open it in private okay."

Dad looked doubtful for a moment, but probably decided to go with it for now, so he set up a teasing grin and made vague comments about me having a secret girlfriend. Something that was thankfully bought by the other occupants of the room.

It was not that I didn´t want to trust these people, my … my family, but some things better remain secret for as long as possible. And while all of them knew about me being a Keyblade Wielder, only dad and Harry, and because of an accident Ginny, knew of my dreams and the implications they gave me.

Because in most of the dreams I saw things from the perspective of a man by the name of either Roxas Arctus Umbra or Roxas Hikage Suki, both of them looking exactly like me and both sometimes wielding the same Keyblade I did. It was confusing and frustrating, but the only possible explanation I could come up with, especially after I had confirmed that some of the things I saw in my dreams had actually happened, was that I had lived twice already and somehow I was gaining the memories of my former lives by the means of dreams. Like I said confusing, but also frustrating, extremely informative (the amount of knowledge I gained from those … memories is immense), sad (the first Roxas lived during the so called first Keyblade War and my second life managed to survive the second and third, which was also the last, the amount of pain, anger and grief they had seen and felt was heart breaking) and so much more, it was too much to describe it with words. It was beyond my highest expectations and at the same time worse than my worst nightmares.

And from these memories, from my second life to be accurate, I remembered the handwriting. A thought that was both exhilarating, since maybe I wasn´t as alone as I thought, and at the same time scary as hell, since I already found out that Roxas Hikage Suki lived ten thousand years ago. Sadly the small package I opened once I was alone in my room and the door absolutely secure, thanks to my Keyblade and its most obvious ability (to lock and unlock every lock, if done right until the next time the lock is treated by a Keyblade), didn´t hold many answers. There was only a short letter in the package. In curly and untidy handwriting there stood:

_Greetings old friend,_

_I want to give you a warning and hope, so heed my words young wielder for only those who know can understand._

_Power sleeps within you, the Power of the Gatekeeper, eternal loyalty, the Key of Souls._

_You have the power to fight, but choose your fights wisely. The only borders to hold you are your own._

_Keep your light burning strong and don´t fear the shadow, it only means there is a light close by._

_There will come the time when darkness rises and everything you hold dear is endangered, but don´t fear. Don´t waver. You wield the mightiest weapon of them all. So stand strong, stand fast … stand together._

_When you doubt the path trod thus far, when the hand you held seems lost and light and darkness loom on the horizon, gaze anew at the heart that once was … for all the answers lie within._

_Now I will depart, but we will see each other again … in the next life. You make a good other._

When I had finished reading the letter, don´t knew how but I think magic could do something like that, the paper glowed bright white and vanished from my hand. But something appeared in its place. Now I held a Keychain, a small pendant in the form of a crown, the pendant and chain were made out of a black metal. I knew exactly what that Keychain was and what it stood for, or so I thought, and right then and there I swore to never use it. An oath that wouldn´t be kept.

From the broken parts of memories I had, I knew who this message was from, probably, but I couldn´t picture him writing something so … confusing and sending me this Keychain on top of it. There was no sense whatsoever. Okay, the last line made sense and confirmed the identity of the writer, but still … I had more questions than I had answers. Damn, how did my simple life get so messed up?

I sat in my room and thought about the letter for hours and it was only early the next morning that I decided that I could do nothing about it. I would have to let the matter rest till I at least got the faintest idea what the message meant. For now I would stop thinking about it and wait for the things to come, if I 'remember' him correctly it will make sense, someday. Hopefully.

Once I had decided to let the matte rest I finally got some sleep, but not enough. All too soon I was up and about again, but even if I had decided to let the matter rest there was still a nagging feeling in the back of my mind as if I was missing something … something important. But do to my sleepless night everyone wrote off my distracted behaviour to my lack of sleep. Thanks to Mrs. Weasleys mothering nature I found myself back in bed shortly after dinner, but still sleep wouldn´t come to me … not that easily.

For hours I tossed and turned, tried to forget and ignore, but the nagging feeling wouldn´t leave. Deciding that it was pointless, I settled in the lotus position and meditated something I had learned from the memories. Perhaps I needed to do something. Perhaps it was time to embrace the Keyblade Wielder in me.

I had always been a Keyblade Wielder, but for the most part I ignored that part of me. I never called upon the Keyblade unnecessarily, I never performed the rituals and traditions of the Keyblade Wielders I knew of. I tried to live a normal life. Sadly that wouldn´t do any more.

So I found myself meditating, listening to memories, thoughts and emotions from three lives, till finally silence settled in my mind. Once I was calm and collected I felt myself falling headfirst, falling into myself. After a short time I felt myself turning and seconds after landed on something solid.

Opening my eyes I found myself in a dark pace, only a faint light high up illuminated my surroundings. But not much could be seen, everything was black and grey, but it didn´t remain like that. For when I took a step forward the ground lightened up and I had to shield my eyes against the bright light under me. Once the light dimmed I managed to get a good look at the ground I stood on.

It was a glass platform, perfectly circular and with a sliver background. Pictures in small circles littered the platform, the three biggest circles held a pictures of me, one in my coat, one with some kind of silverfish blue full-body armour (without the helmet of course) and the last was a picture of me in some casual clothes, a black shirt, white jacket and grey pants. To each of these three pictures a Keyblade was connected, like the pictures were the Keychain, the tips of the Keyblades met in the middle of the platform. The other circles, which adorned the edge of the platform, held silhouettes of people, some of them I recognized others not.

For a moment I was unsure how to proceed, but then a bodiless voice spoke and from the sound of it, it came from all around me. _Destiny unbound. So much to do, so little time … take your time. First choose your power._

Once the voice had finished speaking three trapezoid stones appeared around me, a Keyblade floating over each stone. Once again the voice spoke, but this time I felt complied to first look over to the stone with the white Keyblade above it. Oathkeeper.

_The Power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A Keyblade that will never fail to protect._

Next I had to look over to the pillar with the grey Keyblade over it. My Keyblade, Nobody´s Redemption.

_The Power of the Pariah. Writing history by existing. A Keyblade that will fulfil all your dreams._

And lastly I felt compelled to look over to the black Keyblade, which tauntingly floated over the last stone. Oblivion.

_The Power of the Warrior. Unmeasurable strength. A Keyblade that will bring destruction upon your enemies._

Now I was once more unsure how to proceed, all three choices had their pros and cons. Each decision could lead to great things … or my downfall. How am I supposed to do this? And now the nagging feeling comes back, damn I think I get a headache.

Wait … wasn´t in the letter something mentioned about Power? And just like that the answer came to me, simple and at the same time ingenious. I nearly slapped my face for forgetting this important information. But only nearly.

"I choose neither! I am Roxas, I am the Gatekeeper and I will only ever wield this Power!" I felt sort of stupid for yelling out into the darkness like that, but obviously it worked. The stones vanished and the Keyblades with them. And when the voice spoke again it sounded … proud.

_The Power of the Gatekeeper. Eternal Loyalty. A Keyblade to aid and call for the Souls of the Fallen._

_So be it._

When the voice spoke the last three words everything went black again and seconds later I opened my eyes again. This time in the real world. Looking over to the clock I noticed that barely an hour had passed since I had sat down. Strange, I thought I had meditated at least that long. Oh well.

Now with that problem taken care off and my conscious once more clean, no nagging feeling and no upcoming headache, I went back to bed and was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

The next morning I awoke refreshed and with more energy than ever, I sprung up and tackled the day with vim and vigour. After a few hours spent playing in the snow with Harry, Ginny and Charlie (who had the rest of the year off) we went back inside and the rest of the day was spent playing games and talking with the adults.

The rest of the holidays was spent either like that or, once Charlie had to get back to work after New Year´s Eve, like the week leading up to Christmas. New Year´s Eve was memorable in its own way, besides the fireworks I had gotten from the twins, there were also many other forms of magical fireworks set off in the camp. Truly memorable were the bursts of fire from the dragons in the reserve that came with the fireworks. Such a display of sparks, flames and the sounds of hundreds of roars truly greeted the New Year in an unforgettable way.

All too soon the holidays were coming to their end and we made our way back home to pack again. The next day we were back on the Hogwarts Express and to a new term, but this time it would be somehow worse. I had a bad feeling about the new term. Maybe I would need the Keyblade earlier than I thought. I would be ready.

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><p>AN: This chapter actually doesn´t have much importance for now and most of the information given here won´t come into play before Harry´s third year. And for those of you who might complain that I should make a crossover out of this story, please note that most of the parts of Kingdom Hearts I introduce here aren´t cannon and thus I see little to no reason to change the category of this story.<p>

Next update will be at the beginning of January and till then review. Oh and thanks to every review, follow and favourite, you guys are the best. With that said I wish you a late Merry Christmas, enjoyable holidays and a happy New Year.


	8. Into the Unknown

AN: One hell of a chapter, I hope you enjoy it and notes are at the bottom like always.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing and the creators are just nice enough to let me play with their fantastic work. Thank you J.K. Rowling and Tetsuya Nomura.

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><p>The new term had begun just a week ago and already I could feel the strain. Since next year would be my OWL year the Professors had practically piled us with homework in preparation for it. Even Cedric, who was top of the class in practically all our classes, felt the strain. Normally I was rather good in most of my classes, my knowledge of Ancient Magic gave me a bit of an advantage since most of the principles could be used for all forms of magic, but it wasn´t the practical part of magic that was bothering me. No, while the first three years were mostly dedicated to learning the basics and a whole lot of spells, most of fourth and fifth year would be dedicated to an in depth theoretical understanding of magic. In other words learning the background and theory behind the spells stood in the foreground. Something I wasn´t that good at.<p>

While I had little problems with spells, they just seemed to come to me and more often than not I could cast a spell on the first try, the theory behind it always eluded me. I can admit that I'm not much of a theorist.

But thanks to all the essays and self-study the Professors piled on us, my free time was fairly limited. In addition I also tried to keep up with my workouts, which consisted of laps around the lake, a parkour I had managed to put up at the outskirts of the forbidden forest and a bunch a pushups and things like that. My research on Ancient Magic was practically on hold for now and the few hours I spent in the library, not doing homework, I researched whatever I could on Keyblades and the legends attached to them. Since every record on those powerful and magical weapons was older than ten thousand years, most of the information was found in history books and fairy tales.

I didn´t find much new knowledge, but at least I managed to confirm some of the things I had learned from my dreams so far. But like I said there wasn´t much time for this project of mine and I wasn´t discouraged by what little information I had found, I just made sure to record every finding in my personal notebook to look over once the holidays came around.

But the stress Cedric and I felt, was nothing compared to what Percy was going through. It took a very stern talking to from all of us to make him see that nonstop learning, with barely time to sleep and eat not to mention relax, would do him no good. While we understood that in preparation of his OWL´s he needed to learn more than we, he still had to take time off from studying, otherwise he would probably have a mental breakdown before Easter. Thankfully we could convince Percy of that and so, while we still mostly spent our time studying and doing our homework, the Neo Marauders still pulled the occasional prank to unwind.

But the term continued in the same fashion and even the Easter Holidays didn´t bring any relief, well not much at least. While I mostly stayed on top of all that, it was the middle of April when I was in desperate need of a break. So it was a sunny, Saturday, 18 April to be precise, when I found myself on the way down the Hagrid´s hut. I hoped that maybe spending some hours with the groundkeeper and hopefully working with a magical creature would suffice that need. I didn´t anticipate the headache I would have at the end of this day.

Everything looked so well, the weather was good, spring had finally taken away all signs of winter and warmth was spreading. But all my dreams of a relaxing day were shattered when I reached Hagrid´s hut. For when I knocked at the door of said hut, Hagrid opened with a weary and slightly frightened face. After a quick look around to confirm that no one else was there he quickly ushered me in and closed, as well as locked, the door right behind me. The hut was extremely warm and all curtains were closed. A fire crackled in the fireplace and there was something in there between the coals.

"Rox's, what … what are y' doing 'ere?" I knew the huge man rather well, but even if I didn´t I would have still been able to see the tension in his posture and the slight pause when he spoke gave him away rather easily.

With a huge sigh I prepared myself for a rather hard discussion. "Okay spill. What is going on that has you on the edge like this?"

After a lot of stuttering and halfhearted assurances that nothing was wrong, all it took from me was a stern look at the fireplace for Hagrid to cave in. He told me the whole story. How he had always wanted a dragon, how he had gone to the Hog's Head and how he won the dragon egg in a game of cards. He even showed me the research he had done on dragons and privately I was impressed on the work and thinking he had put into this little project. Since I was still not sure that he could take of a young dragon he reminded me of two of his favorite pets I had 'met', Fluffy and Aragog.

Through reluctant, I still had to admit that Hagrid could probable take care of a young hatchling, but when I asked him what he would do once the young dragon grew, after all dragons grew fast and in less than a month he would be bigger than Hagrid´s hut, he hadn´t have an answer. Instead he all but begged me to help him. Knowing that the rest of my school time would be extremely troublesome if I said yes to this and knowing about the laws concerning dragons, I found myself troubled. I decided to put off that decision and left Hagrid shortly after. A headache already forming.

Over the next week I put a lot of work into this 'little' problem and all the research I was doing definitely harmed my performance in class, but I decided that this was more important for now. After nearly a week I had found something absolutely astounding. Through sheer luck I had found a mention of dragons in the book of fairytales I was currently reading, for research on Ancient Magic of course. The story spoke of a time when humans and dragons worked hand in hand and even shared a bond in some cases. The story was simply called _The Rise and Fall of the Dragon Riders_.

Took me another two days to find a second mentioning of Dragon Riders, but this time it was in a huge and old tome that wasn´t even printed anymore. It was one of the books I had borrowed from the library fairly often since it dealt with the earliest historical events that were ever recorded. One of the earliest events mentioned in the book was the sinking of an island called Vroengard, stating that with the loss of the island and its capital Doru Araeba every knowledge of the once great Dragon Riders was lost to the annals of time. While that wasn´t much, it still gave me a lead on what to research.

But since I knew that with only this lead I wouldn´t come very far, I decided to ask for help. And asking I did, one of the most knowledgeable persons I knew: Professor McGonagall. When I mentioned to her at Thursday after my Transfiguration class that I had started to research to so called Dragon Riders, she provided me with the name of a book from the Restricted Section and sent me along.

I checked out the book on the same day and by the time Mrs. Pince came around and told me that the library would be closing now, since it was curfew in a few minutes, I was absolutely captured by _Mythical Creatures their Human Partners_. The book basically named a species and then proceeded to name cases in which said creature had been bonded to a human and most importantly how so. Over a quarter of the book was taken by dragons and the many cases in which humans tried, sometimes even successfully, to bond with them.

I borrowed the book and spent most of Friday, after a short trip to the hospital wing and a stage play dad would have been proud of, reading the part on dragons, taking notes and researching the one or other method. Finally by the time dinner came around, I had missed lunch entirely, I was satisfied with what I had found out and fairly certain that my plan would work. Obviously my friends had been concerned about my absence today and my withdrawn behaviour the last week, so after dinner they cornered me and questioned me about it.

Since I was fairly certain that my plan would work and I was even venturing within legal bounds with it, I invited all of them to come down to Hagrid´s tomorrow. After a quick goodbye and a promise to explain everything tomorrow I made my way down to Hagrid´s hut, after all if I wanted to bond with that dragon I also wanted to watch its hatching. Hagrid had sent me a note earlier today and asked me to come down after dinner since 'it was time'.

Once again I was quickly ushered into the hut, but this time there was no tension, just a feeling of anticipation in the air. Shortly after we had sat down with some tee, Hagrid took the egg out of the coals and placed it on the table. Curious like I am, I touched it and confirmed what I had read, the egg was merely warm. The hatching itself had its own kind of magic to it and was deeply touched when the tiny dragon first looked over to Hagrid and hiccupped, with a tiny bit of fire coming out and landing in Hagrid´s beard, and next turned around to look at me.

I remembered what the book had said and, without taking my eyes away from the dragon, I held my hand, palm in his direction, out to the dragon. After a slight growl from the hatchling I stopped, my hand merely inches away from the dragon and with a deep sigh closed my eyes. This would be the first step, or everything would be in vain, whatever the outcome was.

After a few seconds, in whom I felt more and more anxious, I felt a slight warm pressure against the palm of my hand. Opening my eyes and smiling softly I started to scratch the dragon under its chin. I also explained to Hagrid what I had found out, about the loophole in the laws and the bonding I would have to do for it. At first he said that he wanted to do it himself, but after I had explained to him that the bonding would make the dragon his familiar and thus shoo away other magical creatures, he agreed to let me do it.

Since there were better chances for the bonding to succeed the more time I spent with my, hopefully, familiar, I asked Hagrid if I could sleep in his hut for the night. After I had explained it to him, he agreed and even went out to inform Professor McGonagall, though he would leave out the whole dragon thing, that I wouldn´t come back to the Tower tonight, since I was helping him with something. This was the truth, the abridged version perhaps, but still the truth.

Hours later, Hagrid had gone to bed about two hours ago, I was just about to go to my own 'bed', just a bunch of cushions and a blanket but still warm and comfy enough, when I noticed a small weight shifting in my lap. With a smile I looked down at the young dragon who seemed to be more and more comfortable in my presence, the fact that he had slept in my lap for the last hour or so, while I meditated, only proved that. Maybe another few minutes wouldn´t hurt and I was quiet content sitting in front of the glowing coals with a tiny dragon in my lap and the rhythmical snores of Hagrid in the background.

When I woke up the next morning it was to the rather unpleasant feeling of scales rubbing against my face. Obviously my new friend had decided that it was time to wake up and thus was scrubbing his side against my cheek. I really tried to be annoyed, but something in the eyes of the baby dragon, which I still hadn´t named, stopped me from doing so. With a great huff I pulled myself up, slipped back into my shirt from yesterday and placed my coat into its half closed fashion like always. I fed the dragon just like the books had suggested, thankfully Hagrid had already prepared the bucket, and then gathered my new companion, who seemed quite content lying on my shoulder with his tail around my neck, to go for my normal training routine. After two laps around the lake, which my companion watched from within the depths of my cloak, which I had set on a stone before I started, I decided that it was enough for today, after all skipping my training just once couldn´t be such a bad thing, and headed back to Hagrid´s hut.

When I entered I noticed that the groundkeeper was still missing, but obviously he had been here while I was away, the note, small breakfast and another bucket for the baby dragon were a dead giveaway. The note said that he would be in the forest for much of the day, a little problem with the centaurs he said, and that I should just stay around the hut for now and that lunch would be delivered for me. Shrugging my shoulders I quickly ate my meal and went back outside with Drac again, perhaps I can teach him to play tag …

Lunch delivery turned out to be Harry, Hermione and Neville with a large picnic basket and a blanket. While at first they were rather shy about my little companion, well Neville and Hermione were, they quickly overcame it once I showed them how … tamed he seemed to be already. Neville was content enough to scratch him whenever Drac came close to him, Hermione practical fired questions at me about him and Harry had taken to him quite well, even playing a round of tag while I answered Hermione´s questions and Neville packed away the leftovers. Good, if my plan works he would see Drac quite often …

And only then I noticed that I had started to think of the tiny dragon as Drac, hm … yes Drac worked, would be a good name for now, but perhaps once I know the gender I will have to think of something better, but that could wait till later. Because just then I saw three redheads and the burly form of Cedric make their way out of the castle and head down to Hagrid´s hut. I called Drac to me and picked him up, placing him on my shoulder as I had grown accustomed to, while Neville picked up the basket and Harry the blanket. Hermione, with a wave of her wand and a muttered spell removed the signs of our picnic, flattered grass and so on, and together we made our way to Hagrid´s hut to meet up with the others.

Just when we reached the hut and the others were only a few steps away, Hagrid came out of the forest, whistling a tone and with Fang by his side.

After greetings and a lot of wonderment about Drac, a short explanation from me and Hagrid thankfully satisfied the newcomers' curiosity for the moment, we settled down on some chairs Hagrid brought from inside, after all the weather was nice enough and the hut would be quite crowded with all of us present. While we talked Drac bounced in the midst of our improvised chair circle, rubbing the one or other leg, getting a scratch here and there and simply enjoying the freedom and attention. However whenever I made a movement or just a loud sound, Drac was back by my feet in an instant, as if to make sure that I wouldn´t leave without him. In a way he reminded me of a young puppy and just like a young puppy who did something good he always got a little treat, raw liver, or a scratch at his favourite spot.

The talk mostly resumed around Drac and while Percy and Cedric were highly interested in the loophole I had found in the laws (fairly easy, basically dragons are forbidden to keep or breed in the UK, but another, far older law, stated that every familiar was the responsibility of its owner and therefor fell under the same rules as the owner, in other words the same laws and rules applicable to me were also apply to Drac and since I was allowed to live in the UK …), Hermione and Harry were more interested in the bond I would try to forge later on (it was like a magical contract between me and Drac, I swore to take care of him and he swore to listen to me, to a certain extent). The ritual for this bond was simple enough, the simple sharing of blood between a magical creature and a willing human would, as long as both parties wanted it, suffice to create a magical bond, which would be recorded by the Ministry, and thus officially make Drac my familiar.

Fred, George and Neville spent most of the time speaking with Hagrid about dragons in general and also asked him about other magical creatures, Hagrid even mentioned Fluffy and how to handle him, something that seemed to intrigue Neville, Hermione and Harry greatly. Hm, I wonder why …

All too soon it was evening and the time for the ritual had come, of course there wasn´t a set time for this, but I had decided to do it at dusk, my favourite time of the day. Like I said, the ritual was simple enough and just needed to make a cut on the palm of my hand to begin it. While the cut was flowing blood at a considerable rate, Drac was just looking at me funnily, for some agonizing moments I feared that I had been wrong and the ritual didn´t even exist, but the slight yelp from Drac alerted me to the fact that the small dragon had just bitten its own tongue. For some moments the young dragon looked at me questioningly and I found the piercing gaze of his snakelike eyes penetrating, as if he was looking into my very soul. Slowly but surely I repeated the motion from yesterday evening and held my hand, palm outwards, out to him. This time he didn´t growl, but I still stopped some inches away from him, he sniffed my hand and slowly, agonizingly slowly, he pulled out his tongue and finally licked my bloody palm, taking in a bit of our combined blood and at the same time smearing the blood from his tongue on my still wounded hand.

With a tender smile I reached out my other hand and rubbed the top of Drac´s head, the small creature purred in appreciation and leaned his head into my hand. The bond had been completed, I could feel it. It felt rather strange like I was absolutely sure that this was Drac and I had the impression that even if there had been one hundred other dragons I would have still known which one was Drac. Another thing my research had shown was that I would probably always be able to tell where Drac was in the world, no matter the distance and in some rare cases it was recorded that one could actually talk to his or her bonded dragon with something like mind speak. It was a strange concept, but if it allowed Drac to stay here and got Hagrid out of trouble I was more than ready to live with it. Not to mention that there were also some benefits for me. For one Drac would do, as long as I didn´t order him but asked nice, what I wanted him to and he would also become attached to me, in some cases also protective.

Once everything was said and done Percy snatched the three present first years to go to dinner, Fred and George said they would go to the kitchens later and wandered off somewhere. Cedric said that he still had some homework to do and that he would meet me tomorrow in the library, so that I could catch up on my homework and make up for the missed day. Hagrid and I wandered off in the direction of the castle, but before we got inside I asked Hagrid if he could ask Professor McGonagall if she could come out here for a word. I wanted to speak with her first.

Hours later I fell into bed with a satisfied smile on my face, after explaining everything to my Head of house and showing her the evidence for the loophole in the laws that I had found as well as the rest of my research, she agreed to help me with this. After a small dinner in her office, Drac and I went with her to see Professor Dumbledore, he hadn´t been surprised about this, seems like e always knows what´s going on inside the castle or on the grounds in this case, and had easily been convinced to make an exception for me.

For now and probably the whole next year, thanks to the adjusted and slowed growth rate Drac had gained through the bond, Drac would lie with me inside the castle, as long as school was going on, and after that time a suitable place for Drac to stay would be found. For the first few weeks I was even allowed to bring him with me to classes, since he still was young and had to learn to be without me at first, not to mention that he had much to learn in general. My satisfied smile still in place I fell asleep, with Drac curled around himself and snuggled against my stomach.

At first there was, once again, some distrust and fear directed at me, but quickly enough the other students, and most importantly my dorm mates since he was sleeping there, got used to Drac´s presence and even sometimes approached me to learn more about him. After that bullet had been dodged and the situation was winding down, for me at had been settled the Monday after when I got a letter from the Ministry confirming the bond and allowing me to keep Drac, I thought I had seen everything and the rest of the could only be easier … right? Wrong.

June the 4th was when everything came crashing down. The term was just winding down, Exams were done and only those poor and unfortunate students in their fifth or seventh year still had to finish some tests. The rest of the student body was already outside and enjoying the warmth of summer. I was sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower with Drac perched on my shoulder and was reflecting on the last term, while also watching the grounds of the place I could call my second home. The year had been extremely interesting, but nonetheless I awaited the holidays with anticipation, after all there were a lot of things to be done now that I had officially embraced the Keybearer in me. Things to find out, preparations to make and objects to find. Yes it would be a rather strenuous summer.

I was just about to head down to make a visit at Hagrid´s or if he wasn´t there maybe wonder into the Forbidden Forest, maybe even start to teach Drac how to fly … When I was interrupted by three anxious and slightly apprehensive first years. Raising my eyebrow in a questioning manner maid Harry start to speak.

After several deep breaths, running up to the Astronomy Tower was no easy feat even if you are trained, he said "Rox we got a problem." Shifting Drac to a more comfortable position and leaning back at a wall with my other shoulder and raising my eyebrow even higher made him elaborate. "We … we found out some things and we think someone might try to steal something very soon. Ever heard about the Philosopher´s Stone?"

They told me a truly exuberant and unbelievable story. How they found out about the Philosopher´s Stone, what was guarding it and their suspicion that someone, probably Professor Snape, would try to steal it tonight since Professor Dumbledore wasn´t in the castle. Many things clicked into place for me right there, things I had noticed throughout the year but didn´t pay much of a mind to. It sounded convincing and at the same time valid. They surely had taken their time to puzzle together the clues. Unfortunately they also told me that Professor McGonagall hadn´t listened to them.

Objectively they could just lead me on a wild goose chase, but I also knew Harry and he wouldn´t have come to me if he didn´t believe in this. And I believed in him.

With a start I realized that my mind was working overtime and already it was functioning in the way Moody had drilled into me if I ever were to go into battle. A plan was already forming.

Target? Philosopher´s Stone

Team? Harry, Neville and Hermione (since they knew the most about this)

Backup? Fred, George and Cedric (if I can convince them)

Way in? Third floor; take out Fluffy and then through the trapdoor

Way out? Same as way in

Emergency Way out? Dark Corridors (hopefully they would work through all the extra enchantments down there)

Equipment? Up in my room, battle ready in less than ten minutes if the need arises

Tasks to be done?

"Okay I believe you three. This is what we need to do …"

That night, close to eleven, I was putting Fluffy to sleep with a Wizard Wireless (a trick I had learned from Hagrid). I had made sure that the Radio would play for at least the next few hours, so that we could get by Fluffy again if we had to. After we had gone through the trapdoor we were greeted by Devil´s Snare which Neville thankfully recognized. He stopped it with a rather powerful Lumos Solem, and Hermione, Harry and I made it retreat by the means of Bluebell Flames, Incendio and Firaga respectively. The tentacle like plant was either burned or retreated and left us to fall into a corridor underneath it, only Harry and I managed a somewhat decent landing.

In the next room I nearly laughed at Harry when he said that he would need to catch the key to the locked door. One he mostly played Chaser with Ginny whenever the chance came up and two … hello? Keyblade Wielder!

Tabbing the door twice with the Keyblade was enough to allow us to move on. The next room made me groan and smile at the same time. Groan because I was extremely bad at chess and smile because I would make sure that Professor McGonagall would never hear the end of this. A chess game as a defence of all things.

This obstacle I left in Harry´s confident hands, the only person I ever saw go toe to toe with Ronald Weasley in a chess game. Three moves into the game Hermione gasped out loud, but Harry just smiled and made his fourth move and proudly proclaimed checkmate. I couldn´t believe it, he had beaten McGonagall´s obstacle in less than two minutes, absolutely astounding.

He later told me in confidence that what he had done was an extremely well known opener in the muggle world, but for whatever reason the wizarding world didn´t know about it and it had been the only way he had ever beaten Ron in a game. We deduced that Hermione had obviously recognized the moves and thus had gasped. Thankfully Professor McGonagall didn´t know about these moves either.

The next room contained a mountain troll, thankfully it was already out cold and I just ushered my three companions forward, while also staying between them and the troll if it suddenly woke up. Thankfully that didn´t happen and once we had left the room I could finally take a breath of fresh air … and then had to jump away from the door. For as soon as the door was closed both that doorway and the other one, leading into the next chamber, had lit up in strange coloured flames.

After I had jumped back it took all but a second for me to realize my mistake. My cloak was probably the most heavenly charmed garment in all the UK, possibly the world. Holding my sleeve and arm into the flames showed that my cloak was both fire resistant and protected my skin from lightning up as well. I love my cloak.

My way to the next room was secured, but I still listened with half an ear while Hermione solved the riddle, which was obviously Snape´s obstacle, after about five minute she held out the smallest bottle to me, while in the other hand she had one of the bigger ones. Looking at the small bottle that would lead forward, I recognize something: Only enough for one person.

"Huh … Harry?" My voice was weary and the sigh just showed to the others that I wasn´t sure about what I wanted to say. Harry gave me a nod that he was listening and I continued. "You can come with me –if!" I interrupted him before he could say anything. "If you swear to follow my word to the letter from here on. Is that clear? No ifs and buts, this will be dangerous. Swear or stay, your decision."

I waved a hesitating Hermione and Neville off, while Harry contemplated my offer. Both took a sip from the other potion and walked through the flames back, to inform the others, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, hopefully they would be fast enough.

Once they were gone Harry raised his head and looked into my eyes. With barely more than a whisper he said "I swear." And thus settled this problem.

He took a sip from the small flask and together, with me in the lead, we walked through the flames into the next and as it turned out last chamber.

Where Professor Quirrel was already waiting for us, standing in front of a mirror. Thankfully the bad guys always seemed to have the urge to taunt and gloat with their accomplishments. His lame speech about power gave me enough time to come up with a plan. Once he reached up to undo his turban I pushed Harry behind a stone column while I drew my wand with the other and started firing.

But he wasn´t Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for nothing, he sidestepped my first _Reducto_ Curse and only was slightly burned on his shoulder when he dodged the _Firaga_. He was however unprepared when I summed my Keyblade and soundlessly unleashed a _Thundra_ on him. The lightning struck him in the same shoulder as the _Firaga_ and flung him back across the room.

Not hesitating a second I gathered my magical energy in my Keyblade, well most of it. Once he was standing again it was just in time to see my Keyblade glow with a strong white light while I whispered the word that would spell his downfall. _Holy._

The light erupting from my Keyblade felt warm and comforting to me and Harry later described it as feeling safe and happy. Quirrel however felt no such thing, the screams from him and the unearthly scream of his master, I had listened enough to know what was under that turban, were enough to prove this. When the light finally receded only ashes remained from the former Professor. Muttering a silent prayer for his unfortunate soul I was about to get Harry and get out of there, when suddenly a smoke like figure rose from the ashes. Voldemort´s remnant.

The smoke like ghost came flying at me with a guttural howl and was just about to reach me, when harry jumped out from behind the column and wandlessly and wordlessly raised some kind of bright white shield. The spirit bounced off of the shield and with another howl flew through a wall. It was done.

I was just about to laugh out loud when the adrenaline from the fight faded and I was hit full force by the exhaustion, I barely managed to sit down on the stone steps and keep my conscious. Harry obviously also exhausted sat down next to me. A smile and understanding passed between us.

I placed my hand on the top of his head and ruffled his hair a bit, while I said "You did well little brother. I´m proud of you. Oh, and thankful." He just smiled up at me a bit embarrassed, but I had said what needed to be said, I really was proud of him. I then turned my attention to the mirror and asked "So on another note, what did you see in the mirror when you found it after Christmas?" After his inquisitive look I just answered with a small smile and a snort and said "Nothing happens without the Marauders getting wind of it, you should know this by now, and your run in with the headmaster had us all worried for a bit. So, what did you see?"

Harry hesitated for a moment, before he answered in a small voice that reminded me that he was still only an eleven year old kid. "You … me … dad … my … my parents and the Weasleys and … Rox I think I saw my family how I wish it to be. My whole family. What do you see?"

I just wrapped arm around me in a one armed hug and answered in a blatant and obvious lie. "Socks … hundreds and hundreds of socks." That got him laughing and while he was laughing I gave a last look at the mirror that only stood meters away from me.

It gave me more questions than answers and the heart wrenching feeling wasn´t that nice. But just to see her again it was worth it. _Naminé._

I tore my eyes away from the mirror and with a bit help from Harry I managed to stand up. Together we made our way out of there, to hopefully never return. I didn´t look back, not even once. Because, after all she had said it just nicely "_Our hearts are connected and that is something no one can ever take away from us. I´m always with you. I love you._"

And with that pleasant thought I left behind no bad memories, rather I remembered the good times and together with my family by my side I would make it. I knew it.

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><p><em>Thundra:<em> A single strong lightning bolt raining down from above. While strong and extremly fast, the outer damage is minimal. However a paralytic effect comes with a hit. Ancient Magic, elemental spell.

_Holy:_ Purifying light that slays evil and darkness. It attacks the heart of the enemy and if it deems him or her evil or dark, burns away the heart, effectively destroying the body and freeing the soul of the victim. It only harms what the caster sees as an enemy. Ancient Magic, light based.

**AN:** I know I left a lot of things out, but like I said I will only cover Roxas' part in the story and let the rest play out normally. What actually bothers me is that nobody so far asked if, or if not than why not, Harry is on the Quidditch team. For record, he isn´t and won´t be for another two years at least. He never got on it, since Draco Malfoy held back and didn´t started the situation concerning Neville´s Rememberball.

With that being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, had a pleasant start into the new year and of course I´m wishing all of you a happy and most enjoyable new year.

Till next time dear readers and please be so kind to leave a review. They warm my heart in those cold months, so to say.


	9. Of Projects and Plans

AN: I know I´m late and I´m terribly sorry, but I just couldn´t find the inspiration in me to write this chapter. As you will shortly see, this is actually more of a transition chapter. With this I´m on the way to set the stage for the next two years (story time).

Also it was pointed out to me that the whole Keyblade-business is quite confusing for those of you, who don´t know Kingdom Hearts. But since the Keyblade actually plays a rather small role (nothing more than an overpowered tool) at least for now and it won´t have any big appearances until Harry´s fifth year, I hoped with the following explanation you will be satisfied for the time being.

Now I rambled enough and I´m sure you´re all eager to start reading the chapter, so ... on with the story. Enjoy the chapter, leave a review please and till (hopefully) next week.

Disclaimer: Just look it up in one of the other chapters.

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><p>Harry and I were just about to leave the Chamber with the mirror, when Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore and surprisingly Snape came storming into the room. After a short explanation from Harry, Snape got the task to take care of the remnants of Quirrel, meanwhile Dumbledore walked over to the mirror and started to tighten and strengthen the enchantments protecting the Philosopher Stone. Thankfully Professor McGonagall had gotten the task to bring me and Harry to the Hospital Wing. Before I really realized it, thanks to the overall exhaustion from the fight and what was probably a case of Magical Exhaustion, we were there and after a bit fuss from Madam Pomfrey Harry and I were assigned a bed each. I would probably have gotten a dose of Dreamless Sleep Potion, but as it was I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, thus rendering the Potion unnecessary.<p>

After a few hours of rather strange dreams, all of them featuring a blond girl in a white summer dress with the most captivating blue eyes, I woke up refreshed, but I could still feel that I was low on Magic. That was my first real fight in this life and it took out more of me than I was ready to admit. But we had won, if barely, and I made the decision that some days of relaxation were in order for now.

Harry was released later that day and Hermione and Neville came over to get him, after a short conversation and the promise to come back after dinner, they left. Just minutes after they had left I found myself troubled, I was extremely bored, and just when I was contemplating sneaking out of the Hospital Wing Professor McGonagall entered with the solution to my boredom problem.

She told me how she had gotten in contact with a former student of her. A ministry employee currently working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but as said employee is often switched between the different Departments. However the reason Professor McGonagall came to me, is because of the Ministry of Magic Research Committee, the already mentioned employee approached Professor McGonagall because said Committee wants to publish a report which had been written by a "civilian". In other words it was some kind of contest to write an essay which would later be published by the Ministry of Magic. Professor McGonagall thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to publish a bit of my research on Ancient Magic and perhaps it would later help me to find sponsors for my research (if I wanted to continue it after school).

While I wasn´t interested in the possible fame or anything else that came with publishing my result, I at least had nothing better to do and thus spent the following three days, which I had to spent in the Hospital Wing to recover from Magical Exhaustion, nearly constantly writing said essay. I was rather proud of the finished essay and even Professor McGonagall praised me (well at least I took her underhanded comment 'If I would put as much work into my studies as I put into this, I would have a straight O in all my classes' as a praise). Two months later the essay was published, with a few additions and changes, by the Ministry of Magic. The framed version of said publication now adorns my room.

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><p><em>The Key to the most famous and mystic weapon in known history:<em>

_**The Keyblade, a mystery unravelled**_

_There are few weapons that are as famous as the Keyblade and none of them are at the same time so mysterious. Stories and sightings of those legendary weapons range back to the beginnings of written history and probably even beyond that. Since not all of those stories can be true and nearly all provable knowledge on the Keyblade has been lost in the last ten thousand years, there are only few things that can be reliably acknowledged as the truth. Thus I decided to divide the little information that is still around into three topics._

And so it continued, in over ten thousand words I rambled over the origin of the Keyblades, its powers and the appearances of Keyblades in recent history. I spoke in great deal about the metaphysical importance and meaning of the Keyblades. I, of course, gave a long list of sources and references to prove my theories, I omitted the fact that I had first-hand knowledge of this due to being a Keybearer and having memories of two lives. They probably would have send me to the mental ward of St Mungo's … or the Department of Mysteries for further studying, if I had mentioned these facts. Nope, not on my to-do-list.

However, one of the best parts of that essay, at least in my opinion, wasn´t really founded on facts, since the information had been lost in time and the only recording of it were the memories I had. Hopefully no one ever bothers to ask me about that. But I couldn´t neglect to speak about the powers of the Keyblades …

_Those of you, who don´t know the stories about the Keyblade may wonder just why a simple oversized Key could hold such importance. An important question after all and thus I want to cover it in the following explanation._

_For you see, the Keyblade holds many powers that separate it from other weapons and makes it truly legendary. The first and most well-known power is the ability to lock and unlock nearly everything, from locks, over wards and barriers, to hidden powers. Nothing is unaffected by the Keyblade._

_Another Power of the Keyblade is the ability to summon it at every time, this summoning is instantaneous, costs no energy and there is no known way to stop it. A Keyblade can literally always appear in the hands of its wielder._

_While there are other powers unique to each Keyblade and especially to the Keychain, which as I already mentioned alters the Keyblade in appearance and power, there is one last power that is common to each and every Keyblade. The ability to withstand everything. There is no known way to destroy a Keyblade. Neither through brute force nor through a spell. A Keyblade only ever loses its power, when its wielder gives in._

_For in a very old text it is summarised best: "The Keyblade in all its glory, is only as powerful as the heart, soul and will of its wielder. It is in every sense of the word, the physical manifestation of those three components. As long as the Wielder stands strong, so does the Keyblade." A fitting description and as close to the truth as we will ever get._

_Now as I said the Keyblade only responds to its rightful Wielder, the reason for that is …_

Definitely my favourite part of the essay, but as I said, it lacked proof, especially the citation, since this description was only given to me in person during my second life by an old Keyblade Master and never written down. Sad as it is, most of the information on these mighty weapons had been lost after the third Keyblade War …

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><p>Ah well, no time to wallow in the past, I had an essay to hand in. And after doing just that, thankfully Professor McGonagall wasn´t that hard to find, Madam Pomfrey finally released me from the Hospital Wing under orders to take it easy the next few days. Not that I could do much, since classes had already ended and tomorrow the students would be send home. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to visit Hagrid one last time.<p>

At least I intended to do so, but I never made it, thanks to a distraction in the form of Draco Malfoy. Said boy had run into me, literally, when I had been on my way down. After a lot of stuttering and stumbling over his words, a rather odd behaviour for the normal confident Malfoy heir, he asked me for a word in private. That is how I found myself in an empty classroom listening to my Cousin seventh grade, through only due to Sirius adopting me, about his home life and his father´s attempts to teach him the Dark Arts.

He talked for nearly a whole hour straight. I just let him, let him get it out and tried to show support in a quiet and sympathetic way. But all the time I listened intently and I learned quiet a lot from Draco´s rant.

First off, his father is an evil bastard and the worst of scum there is. Next off, is that Draco had basically been trained since the age of six to be a Dark Wizard and the next generation of Death Eater. Finally, his mother loved him deeply, but she also loved her husband and was kind of scared off him.

On and on it continued, I think it was the first time he ever told anyone about it and I made sure to be there for a boy that had been neglected and shaped into his father´s clone. While his mother cared about him and tried to be there for him, she also had to play the pureblood Lady she was supposed to be. So at best Draco´s relationship to his parents could be considered distant, reading between the lines of his rant I deduced that his father all but abused him, in order to shape him into his own vision of a good pureblood heir. Quite frankly I found it disgusting.

Sad to say, I could relate to him a bit, not that our dad was like that, not at all. But he also couldn´t make up for Harry´s and my lack of a mother figure. Also in my case there was the problem that I was a Keyblade Wielder and no matter what I ever did, I would never be able to get away from that responsibility. Keyblade Wielders fought against the forces of darkness, always have, always will. That burden was on me and I could picture how my life would be, always fighting, with the darkness always on my heels. I felt kind of pressured in that regard.

Like Draco did from his father …

Of course Draco was no angel either and the reason he hated his father most, was because he wanted to be his own person and not some copy. Some would call that selfish … I called it headstrong. Definitely nothing to be ashamed of. A strong will was a good thing and he would need it if he wanted to go against his father like I assume he wants. Why else would he tell me this, besides getting it off his chest, if not to ask me for help?

After over an hour venting about his father and some disappointed comments about his mother, he finally quieted down and looked at the floor. Probably embarrassed after his outburst. Deciding that I would cut straight to the point, I simply asked "What do you want me to do?"

He looked up so fast that I think I heard his neck snap, surprise and confusion was written all over his face. After a moment he seemed to gather himself and said, in an unsure and quiet voice, "Do … do you perhaps remember what you said on the train?" After a nod from me he continued, still in a shaky voice, "Well, I … I … I need help …"

For a few moments my mind went into overdrive while figuring out how to answer that request. The blunt and anti-social part of me wanted to remind Draco that 'st-st-st-stut-t-t-t-t-tering is written together'. The lazy part of me simply wanted to walk away while saying 'The person you are calling is not available'. And a downright crazy part of me wanted to ask 'if he likes pudding'. … Do I maybe have a split personality … nah, probably just my imagination.

Deciding to go with my most sane idea I just answered with a simple "Figured as much, now stay quiet a bit, so I can figure out what to do." The next few moments I thought of ways to get Draco away from his father. Moments slowly turned to minutes and finally to half an hour. All of which was spent pacing the classroom and muttering under my breath.

Finally I settled on two ideas that could actually work, and deciding that assassinating his father would be a slight overkill, I proposed my most probable workable idea. "Ok I´ve got it now. Problem is that you will have to play the role of the obedient heir for at least another summer. You up for it?"

Draco actually snorted and with an overconfident smirk in place he said "I´m a Slytherin, I can act however I need to, to reach my goals. I´ve played the snot nosed brat for a full year and no one suspected me of being a normal boy."

"Haha, ok point taken. Now listen, here´s what we will do …"

* * *

><p>Only a few hours had passed since that discussion. Now all of the student body and most of the teachers, the late Professor Quirrel being the obvious exception, were just about to head to bed after a rather interesting feast. Not only had Professor Dumbledore given extra points to Hermione, Neville, Harry and me for our ordeals, of course emitting most of the details, thus changing the score so that Gryffindor would receive the House cup, no the Neo Marauders had also decided to play an end of term prank. The planning of said prank had been the other project that had kept me busy while I recuperated in the Hospital Wing.<p>

The basics were much the same as for our coming out prank and thankfully the runes we had placed for that one only had to be slightly altered. Something the others managed to do without problems. The only problem we had was to gather enough magical energy in the runes to fully activate them. Last time it took us nearly two weeks, but that has been with classes still in full swing, now that we had much more free time and lessons weren´t as exhausting as they used to be, we barely managed to gather the needed energy in the given time.

Another thing we changed, was the way how the runes were activated, were the last time a spike of magical energy was needed, something that could easily be traced back to whoever unleashed it, this time the runes were prepared to activate at a certain phrase.

And so it came, that when Professor Dumbledore ended his speech with his usual words ('… the train leaves early tomorrow, so up to bed with you lot.') that once again two hundred runes in the hall flared.

This time however, were last time most of the runes did the same thing, two hundred different outfits were evenly divided throughout the hall. The runes also not only affected the clothes, but the hair as well, hell they even added makeup whenever needed. Since I had spent most of my time in the Hospital Wing and had only managed to sneak away for few minutes each day, I had only altered one rune, coincidently it was the same rune that flared right in front of me. When the uproar finally ended and the thoughtfully embarrassed students, at least those who had managed to pick themselves up after laughing their asses off, made their way to their dorms, I proudly stood up and followed my fellow Gryffindors.

There was nothing to be embarrassed about, well maybe the hideous orange jumpsuit, or the six stripes on my cheeks looking like whisker marks. Oh well, at least my hair stayed mostly the same. And what better way was there to honour my student, who was probably dead and forgotten since a couple thousand years, than a prank. He always loved a good prank. '_That one was for you Ototo, believe it._'

* * *

><p>After a good night's sleep, a healthy breakfast only interrupted by a slightly concerning letter, the students made their way down to the station in Hogsmeade. In a compartment with all of my friends I was nearly able to forget the burdens I had to carry. Even if I had been reminded of them by mentioned letter just hours earlier. But still, in such good company, talking and laughing the whole time, it was easy to forget. Or at least to shove those thoughts to the back of mind.<p>

This summer would probably be harder than the last and I had many things to do and accomplish in the next few months and years, but just for a little bit … I just wanted to be normal.


End file.
